Killing Me Softly
by Black-Angel-001
Summary: Okay, so let's recap: his brother has severe amnesia, someone's trying to take over the world, and people are getting hurt. Sounds normal to Edward.
1. Guess Who's Back Again?

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: here is my first FMA fic! although i have not seen the entire show (yet) i know what happens at the end AND I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT WITH ALL THE PASSION AND BEING IN ME! ARRRGGGG! ((ahem)) anywho, this is basically after the end of FMA, where ed is 20 and al is 14. enjoy!**

**Killing Me Softly**

Things had definetly changed. There were so many buildings he didn't recongnize, he wasn't sure he was in the right place. Edward Elric sighed and ran a gloved hand through his bangs. After being stuck on the other side of the gate for three years, what did he expect? Not to mention the year he spent traveling around, trying to figure out what was going on in the world. He continued walking down the street of his home town, all the while getting strange stares from curious people. When Ed arrived only a few feet from Winry's house, he smiled and began to run. He opened the door and began to call out but something hard and metallic hit his head before he could utter a word. Ed cried out in pain, clutching the throbbing area.

"What do you think you're doing, barging in here like you own the place! Just who do you think you are buster!" shouted an angry Winry, an incomplete automail arm in hand. Bringing it down for another blow to the head, Winry gasped in surprise when the guy grabbed it, took it easily from her grasp, and tossed it away.

"Jeez, did you have to hit me so hard with that thing?" Ed asked while rubbing his head and checking his gloved fingertips for blood.

"Ed?" Winry went pale.

"Who did you think it was?" Before even making it to the door, Edward had expected a teary-eyed Winry to embrace him. Her shock was a surprise to him.

"Edward Elric," began Winry, "what the hell do you think you're doing, coming here before going to see your own brother?" As she yelled she pounded on Ed with her fists. He grabbed her arms and held them at her side. 'Well, now she's teary-eyed,' Ed thought.

"Calm down, okay? Come on, let's talk like civilized people here."

Winry took in deep breaths, eyes closed. Finally calm, she pointed at the couch, indicating that Ed should sit and wait htere for a few minutes. He did so while she got them some drinks from the kitchen. Both settled, Ed asked about what was going on lately.

"Not much I'm afraid," she replied simply. "Ever since your and Al's great adventure, things have been pretty quiet, except for a few civil wars."

"How's Al?" His voice was soft, barely audible.

Winry looked at him sadly and Ed wondered what had happened. His first thought he tried to push firmly from his mind but failed. The transmutation should have worked, Al should be alive. Unless something happened to change that.

"He isn't.."

"No, he isn't dead. But, when you brought him back, Al couldn't remember anything." She paused. "Where did you go and how did you get back?"

Ed starred at her, ignoring her questions about him for the moment. Right now he was too worried about his brother's welfare. Maybe what she had said was a bad joke. A very cruel and very bad joke. The look on her face told him it wasn't. Ed leaned back, his head resting on the back of the sofa.

"How much?"

"What?"

"How much of his memory is gone?"

"All of it." Ed cursed loudly. "But there is a bit of good news and maybe some bad news. But first, answer my questions. Now Ed."

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Her sunny blonde hair was longer, and she was more...womanly so to speak. Other than that, Winry seemed more reserved than she used to be.

"I was in Germany, and I'm not really sure how I got back. They don't use alchemy in Germany.One day I got really mad about something and was able to use alchemy and here I was. Now, tell me the good and bad news."

Before she could reply, a voice called from the doorway and Ed felt his heart stop.

"Winry, is everything alright? I saw your door was open and I got worried."

"Everything's fine. Ed, I want you to meet a friend of mine." Her expression screamed at Ed to play along or else. Ed studied his brother for a moment, almost afraid that he wasn't real. Short brown hair and grey eyes, a calm face and a soul that was always at peace. The expressions and looks were right, but Ed felt something missing. Then realized what it wasthat look of recognition and love in his little brother's eyes. Winry's voice posting an introduction snapped him back to the present.

"Ed, this is Alphonse Elric. Al, this is Edward..." she trailed off, unsure of what last name to give Ed.

"Elric," finished Ed, extending a hand and offering a smile. Hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em right? Al was only a few inches shorter that himself. Funny, since Al had bragged that he was taller than his older brother.

Al took the strangers hand and shook it, clearly puzzled by the last name. The face of a boy resembling the man before him flashed across his mind, as well as the face of a gentle looking woman that remembled him; Al had always assumed her to be his mother. It was a nice, comforting thought. "Elric, huh?" he said. "I didn't know there was someone else out there with my name." 'Then again, I don't know if that's my name at all.'

"I guess it's just one of those things," responded Ed. For all his smiles and confident manner, Ed wanted to embrace Al, tell him that everything was okay now that he was back. But his only respnse to that would be a strange stare and a ticket to someplace for the crazies. Al would not know what he was talking about, that's for sure.

"Uh, Al," Winry said suddenly, breaking the silence, "can I get you a drink?"

Al shook his head and smiled. "No thanks Winry. I'm about to leave."

"For what?" asked Ed before he could stop.

"Lieutenat Colnel Armstrong asked me to go check something out for a case." Al supressed a groan when the slow and steady pounding in his head came.

"Mind if I came?" Ed felt silly for asking. This was his brother after all, why should he have to ask? 'Because he has no clue about his life,' a little voice inside Ed's head whisphered.

Al raised an eyebrow. "Citizens aren't advised to assist with military issues."

"That would be great if I was a citizens." Surprise and confusion eteched across Al's face. Ed pulled out his silver poket watch, signifying his status as a State Alchemist.

"So, it's Major Edward Elric?"

"Only when I'm following orders and regulations. I usually don't."

"Neither do I." Ed was about to comment when Al continued. "I guess you can come, I wouldn't mind."

"Will you get in trouble?" Winry asked Al. "You know, for taking Ed with you on a case?"

"No," the Elrics said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed a little.

"I'll see you later Winry," Al told his friend. To Ed, he said, "You should get your stuff; I'm leaving for Central City right now."

"I'm already ready." Ed grinned. Again, something flared up in Al's mind, something he was sure was important. Shrugging, Al took the lead out the door.

"See you Winry," Ed called. Winry watched them walk away for a while before picking up the automail arm Ed had tossed. In a sudden realization, Winry turned back to the brother, only to find them gone from sight. "I'll be damned," she whisphered.

Once they were a good distance away from town, Al asked Ed his title.

"Huh?" Ed had been so wrapped up wondering how to cure his brother's amnesia, he hadn't heard the question.

"You're title. You know, it's a name they give to State Alchemist's?" Ed smiled again. Alphonse was more fiecty now. Not a bad thing.

"Fullmetal."

"Glad I didn't take accept that one."

"What do you mean?" Al was a State Alchemist too?

"When I passed the exam, they almost gave me your title." Al looked at Ed curiously. Long blonde hair that was at least to his shoulder was braided, his honey colored eyes full of life and humor. "I had a feeling it was taken so I told them to pick something else."

"And?" Ed prompted.

"I got the title of Life Alchemist."

"When did you try for the exam?"

"Last year." Al frowned and rubbed his temples. "Why all the questions?"

"Just curious. Are you okay? You look a little pale."

"Fine, just a headache." And that was the end of that discussion.

"Do you use a transmutation circle?" Al asked suddenly, getting the feeling that he should know that already.

"No, I don't. Do you?"

"No."

They remained silent until they arrived at the train station taking them to Central City.

**Black-Angel-001: be nice and review for me! i know it's goin kinda slow so forgive me!**


	2. We? What we? There is no we!

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: 6 reviews after two days of being posted! yays! thankies to everyone who reviewed! i'll explain why al couldn't look for files on ed in later chapters. **

**Disclaimer: Not mine although I wish it was...It isn't like I'd do anything evil to them... ((thinks about ways of tourtering FMA charecters))**

**Killing Me Softly**

It took two days to get to Central City. Edward kept asking questions as a way of finding out what Alphonse did or did not remember or know. Al answered slowly and cautiously, suspecting that there was more to this than just curiosity. When asked about family, Al shut his mouth and kept it that way. Ed talked about their past, hoping to jarr some of his brother's memory. He mentioned their mother, when and how she died, the human transmutation they attempted and failed. Everything he could, Ed told him, careful not to indicate that Al was the brother he was speaking of. It made Al's headache worse.

The night before arriving in Central, Ed woke to find Al gazing out of the window, just as he had done years ago when they were searching for the Philosopher's Stone.

'Weird, he can sleep now so why doesn't he?' "Are you "

Al sighed, partly in aggrivation and partly in sadness. "Yes, I'm fine, just like I told you the last fifty times you asked." He turned to face Ed. "Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"I could ask you the same."

"I usually don't fall asleep right away; sometimes not at all. It's something I've always done I guess."

'You have no idea Al,' Ed thought sadly. "I had a nagging feeling that I should wake up, so I did. Guess it was just a dream."

"I guess."

When they arrived, Armstrong was waiting at the station. Like Winry, the newly promoted Lt. Colonel was surprised then happy at the sight of Ed, although Fullmetal could see the doubt lurking in Armstrong's eyes.

"Edward! It's good to see you again my friend." Armstrong reminded himself not to make it look like Ed's apperance was unexpected...even though it completely was. The two shook hands, both grinning at each other. "Someone said you had died."

Ed took note of the undermessage in the sentance. "I'll have to tell you about it later." Armstrong gave him a look and Ed knew that if he didn't, God help him. Armstrong turned to the silent Al.

"Alphonse, glad you could come on such short notice."

"No problem. So, what's going on Lt. Colonel? You usually don't call me for basic intelligence gathering."

"That's because it isn't basic, and it's more than what you think. Come along, I'll show you to your quarters and then explain it to you." Armstrong gripped Ed's upper arm and all but yanked him into step behind him. Ed winced at the pain Armstrong's big fingers caused, but endeured. This was probably his way of making sure the headstrong alchemist didn't run off like he always liked to do. While the two chatted about old times, Al walked quietly beside them, thinking. In a way, Al figured he was jealous of the Fullmetal alchemist. He had a past to look back on and a future to look forward to. 'So I don't know my background, big deal, plenty of people don't. I've still got a future.'

"Al, hello?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I was thinking."

"Obviously. I said, where did you first learn alchemy? Armstrong here says you're very good at it."

"I've always known how."

"Hey, I got an idea. You know martial arts, right?" Al nodded and wondered how Ed had figured it out. "Why don't we spar later? It'll be a great way to relax."

"Relax?" Al was once again surprised. This guy had a weird idea of relaxing.

"Yeah, relax. What do you say Al?"

"Uh, sure, okay I guess."

"Great, now that that's settled, mind telling us what's going on Arm " A woman calling to Al cut Ed off in mid-sentance. All three turning, they saw a young woman in her mid twenties racing after them. Her brown hair was cut short, just above the collar of her blue uniform. Al smiled in recognition and Ed felt his heart tug. Armstrong placed a big, burly hand on Ed's small shoulder in a comforting gesture. Ed didn't want comfort, he wanted his brother to remember.

"Hello Major Alphonse," the girl said, saluting. Al returned the gesture and the both became more relaxed from their strict military pose. "Glad to see you again. I have a few reports you need to fill out and sign and..." she caught a glimps of Ed. "Who's that cutey?"

Ed nearly fell on his face. Okay, so she was very perky, he could deal with that. Her flirting with him was another story. "This is my brother..." Al stopped when he realized what he had said. Ed had a hopeful look on his face which soon left once introduced as Al's 'new friend'. Ed's head hung slightly even when the perky Corpral Maria Jones talked and talked and talked. They were continueing their way through the base at Central and Jones was still talking. Edward wondered what it would be like to hear silence again.

"Don't worry, she's only like this when she's nervouse," Al whisphered to him.

"Then she must be pretty nervouse..." Ed managed to get out without a growl of frustration being attached.

"Oh, by the way, Major Elric?" Jones said.

"Yes?"

"Yeah?"

Maria starred at them for a while before laughing shakily. "No, sorry, I ment the shorter one."

Ed's face flushed in anger and was about to comment that he was not short but then remembered that he wasn't anymore. He relaxed again.

"Sir, the Fuhr would like to see you when you get the chance," Jones concluded.

"Why would the Fuhr want to see Al?" Ed burst out.

Jones shrugged. "I only run the errands." She turned and walked briskly away, leaving the three to stare after her.

The room Ed and Al were to stay in was simple. Two beds on the north and south wall, a sofa and coffee table, a dresser with a mirror hanging over it, and one big, leafy plant in the corner. The walls were an eggshell white. Ed eyed the place warily.

"You guys haven't changed much, have you?" he asked Armstrong.

"What do you mean?" Armstrong gazed at him.

"Never mind." Ed put a hand to his head and sighed. Al set his bag down, and walked out the door, not saying a word to either of them. Ed followed. "Where are you going? I thought Armstrong was going to breif us."

"Actually," Al replied over his shoulder, "Armstrong is supposed to breif me, not us, and I was asked to see the Fuhr, remember? Besides, the Lt. Colonel will wait until we're settled to tell us anything."

"I don't see why we couldn't work together. I mean, why not? We're both State Alchemists, we're both respected officers and you might need backup for something," concluded Ed.

"I'll be fine on my own, just like always." The pair had just arrived at the Fuhr's office.

**Black-Angel-001: i'll leave it there for now, just to put you guys on edge. reveiw and check out my fav list! it could be worth your time.**


	3. How'd it Come to This

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: here's the third chapter that you have been so patient for.**

**Killing Me Softly**

Ed and Al gazed at each other, locked in eye combat. The door opened, and Riza Mustang stepped out, stopping to stare at Ed.

"Okay, people seem to be starring at me alot and I'd appreciate it if you would just cut it out!" Ed yelled.

"Excuse me Fullmetal, I just didn't expect you." She noticed the boys expressions. "Something wrong?"

"No, everything's fine," Al said before walking through the door Riza had just walked out of.

"Hold it Al, we aren't finished with our conversation."

"Wrong. We are completely finished. I work alone on whatever it is Armstrong needs me to do and you sit back and watch from the sidelines."

Roy Mustang raised an eyebrow. What the hell was going on? Alphonse usually didn't yell at anyone. Roy saw Edward and his expression darkend. In a sudden blur he was up from his desk, across the room and in front of Ed. Roy raised a fist, pulled far back, and hit Ed square in the jaw. Ed stumbled back, shocked.

"You bastard," spat Roy. "For four years you manage to stay hidden from us and now you come waltzing in here as if nothing's happened! Do you know what I went through to make sure your file didn't read 'deseaced'?"

Roy took another swing and Ed fell to the floor. The Fuhr grabbed the boy's shirt collar, easily lifting him off the carpet and slammed him into a wall. Ed winced.

"Roy, let him go!" Al struggled to get his CO away from Ed. For some reason, Al was more panicked that he should have been. Why? Edward Elric was probably the single most aggravating person he'd ever met; why should he care? Al had no answer for that.

Roy banged Ed's head against the wall a few times before abrubtly releasing him and stepping away, breathing hard. Riza went to him while Al checked Ed out.

"Feel better?" she asked seriously.

"No," he replied.

"You know you could have given him a concussion," Riza told her husband quietly.

"Give that kid a concussion? Hah, his head is made of steel. We're lucky he didn't put a hole in the wall." Roy wrapped and arm around her waist. Riza didn't bother to mention that if there had been a hole in the wall, it would have been Roy's fault, not Ed's.

"Any other kind of pain you wish to inflict on him?"

"Short of frying him? No."

Al helped Ed up, concern playing on his feauters. Ed had always wondered back when they were searching for the Stone, what it would be like to see his brother's face and smile again. Well, here was his face, where was the ever present smile?

"I'm okay Al, thanks for the help."

Suddenly remembering the fight they'd had earlier, Al turned away. "No problem."

"Now that our tearful reunion is over," commented Roy, giving a look to Ed who grinned at him, "it's time for buisness. Alphonse, did Armstrong breif you yet? No? Then I'll go ahead and do it. Lately we've been having some terrorist attacks on a few of our facilities. From the looks of thing, these aren't random attacks either."

"Do you have any suspects?" asked Al.

"Sure. We have over ten. A week ago, I recieved a letter from a guy who calls himself 'Apollo' after the sun god. Idiot was bragging about how he and his other friends were the cause of the attacks. It's become a joke around here to call them the 'Loonies' -- not a word Fullmetal." Ed tried to keep from laughing. "The point is, they need to be put out of commission. We haven't had this many deaths in the course of a few days since Scar had been around."

Riza handed Al a stack of manila folders. He thumbed through them quickly. "Usual stuff?"

"Yeah. Profile, locating, everything. If you need anything else, get Corpral Jones," said the Fuhr.

"Anything else?"

"No. Dismissed."

Al stood, not bothering with military formalities. He half expected Ed to follow him back to the room. Al was grateful when he didn't.

Ed stayed in his chair, waiting for Roy to make the first move. Both had questions for the other and neither wanted to leave until those questions were answered. Riza stood quietly to one side as the minutes ticked by.

"Enough of this silent, macho - man crap," Roy said. "What happened when you disappeared four years ago?"

"That's between Al and me."

Roy hit the top of his desk hard. "For God's sake Fullmetal, have you been blind the past few days? Do you honestly expect your brother to just walk up to you and say he remembers everything?"

"No I don't," Ed said softly. "What do you care anyway Roy? You have your big position now so why worry about us?"

Roy stared at him. Sighing he put his elbows on the desk and put his head in his hands. "I care and worry, Edward, because you and Alphonse are my friends. I hate that your brother can't remember and I hate that I'm powerless to change it."

Needless to say, Ed was surprised by Roy's words. He ran his tounge over his suddenly dry lips and spoke. "Why didn't you tell him though? Why didn't you tell him about his past?"

"Because it would have been too hard for him. He was already struggling with other things and besides, would he have believed any of it? I know Al is open minded but even that story would be hard to swallow."

That was true enough. Ed rose and started to the door.

"Ed." He turned to face Roy. "We aren't finished with our conversation. I expect us to finish soon. By the way, be careful. Not everyone has forgotten the Fullmetal alchemist."

"Please, Roy, when am I not careful?" With that Ed walked out.

Roy turned to his wife and pulled her onto his lap, brushing a kiss across her lips. She looked up at him.

"Do you think they'll be okay?"

"I can only hope. How's my son doing?"

"Our son is terrorizing the babysitter last I checked."

Roy chuckled. "That's my boy."

"Roy Mustang, you will not encourage Hughes's behavior."

He raised an eyebrow. "Hm, pretty strict orders. What happens if I disobey?"

"I cut your legs off at the knee and let Ed make fun of you."

"Then I'll try to resist the urge." She gave him a quick kiss before leaving. Roy smiled as he thought about his son and the second child on the way. Pulling open a desk drawer, Roy took out a picture. It was of himself, Hughes, his little girl, and Hughes's wife. As always, Hughes was dotting on his daughter. Roy's smile faded. If things had turned out differently all those years ago, Hughes could have walked Elyisa down the aisle, bragged about his grandchildren and godchildren. If things had turned out different, Roy would still have his best friend. Roy wiped at his eyes and put the photo away. Dear God but some memories hurt!

Ed found Al sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table, pouring over papers and maps. Frowning, Ed ignored his brother for the time being and flopped onto the couch, a hand covering his eyes.

"Well, are you going to help me?"

"What was that?" Ed glanced at his brother's back.

"I'm taking you up on your offer to help me. But, let's make sure we understand each other on this. I'm asking for your help on the paperwork, not the actuall field work."

Ed nodded. Maybe not what he had in mind but it would work. "Why the change of heart?" asked Ed as he sat across from Al.

"There's too much here for me to do on my own." Al gestured to the strewn papers. "If they'd told me sooner to come down here, instead of waiting after six attacks, we wouldn't have this problem."

"So, what are we going to do?"

"Go back to the files on the first attack and work our way up. At the same time, we need to write down what every place hit has in common in the manner of how it was destroyed, what the building was used for, things like that." Al pulled out a map with heavy, black marks on it. "These are the locations that Apollo and his guys took out."

"Well, what are we waiting for! Let's get started!"

Both settled into a pattern. It was just like old times, Ed thought. If one needed something, the other knew without being told and got it. They continued their work until it was late.

"C'mon Al, let's call it a day," yawned Ed.

"You go on and go to bed. I'm going to stay up a little more."

"Just make sure you get some sleep." Al nodded absently and Ed fell asleep to the gentle lullaby of rustling papers.

**Black-Angel-001: hope you guys enjoyed it.**


	4. Two of a Pair

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: al has no inclination that ed is his brother. don't worry though, you'll be happy with the end...as soon asi figure out what the ending will be...uh...hehehehehehe...**

**Disclaimer: IT'S MINE, IT'S MINE, IT'S MINE! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ((wakes up from dream)) Damn it...**

**Killing Me Softly**

Al dogded another of Ed's punches before delivering a round house kick to his ribcage. Ed evaded most ofthe attack. Where Al was cool, calm and collected, Ed was frustrated, tense, and he was getting angry. This was the third match they'd had against each other; Ed had lost the first two. Was it possible that Ed would never beat him? The thought was not comforting.

"Loosen up a little Ed," advised Al. "Relax."

"I am relaxed," replied Fullmetal.

The Life alchemist just shook his head and sighed, blocking a few punches and kicks. Fed up with the whole situation, Ed charged headfirst and rammed himself into Al's middle, arms going around his waist. The two fell to the

ground with a thud. Jones and Riza, who had been watching, rushed over. Ed sat up and leaned over Al, worried. Alphone's face was red and his breath was coming in quick, shallow puffs. Suddenly he began to cough hard.

"Al, what's wrong?" Edward felt panic rise. Al waved a hand at him, gaining control of his breathing once more.

"Just winded." He sat up carefully, resting his arms on his knees. His face was slowly truning back to it's normal color. "Who gets that round?"

"I say Al should have that on," commented Riza.

"What!" cried an outraged Ed.

"I don't think you'll accept a tie, will you?" asked Al. Ed remained quiet, as if in thought.

"There's only one way to settle this," he said seriously. Without warning he turned and tackled Al back to the ground. Al screamed with laughter. Ed's fingers ran over his brother's ribcage and any other place where he knew Al was ticklish. Al wiggled around, tyring to get away bu unable to. Ed paused.

"Give up?" A full smile was plastered on his face.

"T-that wasn't f-fair," gasped Al.

"I said, do you give up?" Ed tickled again.

"Aurgh! Stop, stop, stop, stop! You win!" Ed backed off, giving Al the space to breath and get up.

"You two are something else," awed Jones.

Ed only chuckled in response before flopping on the grass, letting the sun's warmth pour over him. He and Al had been working on that terrorist case for days and a break was desperately needed. He glanced at his brother from the corner of his eye and saw the dark rings. Ed knew Al hadn't been sleeping much lately and he was resorting to putting sleeping pills in the

boy's food just to make sure he got at least a few hours sleep. Despite that, though, they were close to solving the problem.

"Ed, come on, there's some people I want you to meet," Al said excitedly.

"Who?" He stood and brushed his clothes off. His attire was basically like that of the clothes he wore when he was a kid only with slight differences.

"You'll know when we get there." Al grabbed Edward's wrist and pulled him along behind him, giving a quick goodbye to Riza and Jones. Soon they were laughing and joking with each other. It felt familiar to Al, being with Ed like this; it was almost as if he had been doing it all of his life. A migrane pulled at his brain but he refused to acknowledge it. Nothing was

going to ruin the day.

The house they stood in front of was beautiful in a simple kind of way. It actually reminded Ed of their old home in Rezenbull. A flower garden lined the windows. It almost brought tears to his eyes. Almost. Al went up to the door, knocked and waited. Minutes later, the door creaked open and a little girl of about five peeked out far enough to see Ed. She screamed. He screamed back at her. The door slamed shut. Al laughed at the event.

"What was that!" Ed asked him with a look of complete shock and no understanding of what had just happened.

"That was Sarah," Al replied with a laughing smile. He knocked again, moving in front of Ed. When the door opened again, the same girl peeked out, cautious. When she saw Al the door opened a little further and her thumb went into her mouth.

"OOmph eh Erp ooh?"

"Hey Sarah, is your mom home?"

"Eps giben Ohny ah baf," replied the girl, thumb still in mouth. Ed couldn't understand a word of what the child was saying.

"Oh, okay. May we come in or should we come back later?"

"Ob en, erb abs." The door shut quietly. Ed face Al.

"You actually understood all that?"

"Yep."

Before more could be said, the door reopened and Sarah motioned for them to come inside, which they did. A few minutes later a woman with dark brunette hair and clear gray eyes walked in with a baby on her shoulder. Ed smiled as he remembered a similar picture with his own mother and brother.

"So this is what got my little girl screamin'," she said with a small laugh. "Sorry if she startled you or was rude," Sarah paused, giving a stern look to her daughter and emphasizing that one word, "but you know how kids are. I'm Lisa Smith by the way." She couldn't hold out a hand to shake because her arms were so full with the baby, who gurgled incoherently. "And of course we can't forget Zachary."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ed."

It didn't take long for Sarah to warm up to Ed. While Al and Lisa sat talking about different subjects, the small girl kept Ed entertained for hours with stories and ideas for her dolls, funny stories about episodes with Zach, just typical things. By the time the pair left the house, both in high and happy spirits, it was getting dark, a beautiful midnight blue. Stars were beginning to twinkle. The air was fresh with a slight chill. All things considered, it was the perfect fall spring night...except for the fact that Ed and Al had guys following them.

**Black-Angel-001: okay, so you guys had to wait a long time for this...i apologize. i have a very good reason for not updating sooner, so yeah...in the next chap it will skip ahead but if you're smart (and i really hope you all are) you can figure out what happened.**


	5. Remember Me Once in a While

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: after much debate, i have decided what course this fic will take...wait, i'm undecided again...**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Killing Me Softly**

It was just like all those other times he had woken up in a hospital. Bandages were wrapped too tightly around his wounds, nurses and doctors coming in and out. Al sitting quietly close by...wait. Ed sat straight up, completely ignoring the pain shooting through his nerves. Al wasn't there. Ed remembered what had happened. Some guys had jumped them, shooting at them. Both of them had been shot but held their own. He threw back the thick blankets and got to his feet. He stumbled only slightly as he walked down the cold hallway of the hospital. Ed tuned out the cries of the nurses and doctors, focusing on his thoughts of Al. A hand gripped his arm. Ed paused with a somewhat calm fury.

"Get back in bed, Edward," Roy told him sternly.

"Where's Al?"

"He's just fine, don't worry. Come on, let's get you back to your room and " Ed jerked away from him, the sudden movement momentarily giving him a head rush. He breathed deeply, eyes closed, waited for the wave of pain to leave, then looked up at Roy.

"Goddamn it Roy, I want to know where my brother is and if I have to I'll search this place from top to bottom!"

Mustang sighed but then gave a small smile. Typical Edward. Motioning down the hallway, Roy lead Ed slowly to his brother's room. The boy was getting annoyed with their progress since it seemed to take forever to get to the room. When they did get there, however, Ed rushed in. Al lay on the bed with his eyes closed, his face a tad pale. Edward frowned.

"Shouldn't he be awake?" asked Ed softly.

"After the doctors got the bullets out, he was awake for almost twenty four hours. They finally gave him sedatives to make him sleep."

"Oh." Ed mentally kicked himself. His brother was in the hospital and all he could say was 'oh'. Roy left right around the same time Ed pulled a chair up to Al's bed. He spoke to him freely now, knowing that Alphonse couldn't hear him.

"I wish I could tell you this while you were awake but," Ed toyed with the sheets and kept his eyes down, "if I did then you'd probably leave. There are times when I look at your face and can see that you might remember something and every time I think you push it away." Ed chuckled suddenly. "There was one time, when we were kids, that I dared you to kiss Winry. I hadn't thought you would but you did and when she kissed you back, I was so mad. I wouldn't talk to you at all, I just ignored you and how what I was doing hurt you. I noticed, of course, but I was determined not to let my little brother win me over. But you did, just like always. The silent treatment I gave you barely lasted a full day." He was watching Al's face now, noticing how his eyelids flickered. "There are better memories, like when you were playing with Den in the meadow back home..." Tears welled up in Ed's eyes, some spilling over. "I-I need you to remember...you have to remember...please Al..." After one last look over Ed left the room, never noticing the tears streaming down Alphonse's face.

Once Al was able to, the pair visited each other when they were able to. The visits held fun moments, but at other times they were filled with sad moments.

"Ed, what happened to your brother?" Al asked out of the blue one day.

Fullmetal looked at him in surprise, then his face became downcast. "I'm not really sure...maybe he's around somewhere or maybe he's..."

"Hey, I know. I'll help you look for him when we finish the terrorist case." Edward turned away from his brother's cheery face to hide his tears. "Thanks."

**Black-Angel-001: i'm getting serious writers block...that's not good...if my reviewers have any ideas for me, please share!**


	6. Wise Men Wander, Strong Men Die

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: I LOVE MY REVIEWERS! THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU GUYS!**

**Marii: Don't worry, I won't stop until the end. I actually thought about killing one or both of them off (or maybe even a completely different charecter) but I don't know about that. I've still got lots of misery to put the brothers through later and no, Ed didn't tell Al his brother's name; I'm saving that for later.**

**Lunachan 2: Thanks for the vote of confidence.**

**Uniasus: It might get worse before it gets better, just so you know...**

**Night-Owl123: I'm sorry, but my updating times aren't exactly uh reliable. But, it could be worse! I might not update at all and then where would you be? ;p**

**Sorceress- Fox: Thanks for the suggestion, I might just do that...**

**ReadingWhiz89: Before you reviewed, I'd planned do go into that a bit more as the story progressed.**

**Chikara-Yuy: Yeah, but it was soooooo short! Grrr, I hate short chapters!**

**and so, without further ado, the sixth chapter!**

**Killing Me Softly**

Once they were back in Central's main base, Al went over the reports again while Ed went to get some food. Al was frustrated with himself for not working even while he was sick. He frowned at the file he was reading. The facility had been bomed from the inside, in the control center. No one could get in anywhere without clearance and he highly doubted that anyone could sneak in. So, that meant there had to be someone working from inside the military to help the bad guys out. He looked at the list of military personel who had been on duty that night. He shuffled through the papers and thought. Al had found that groups of rebels had attacked against the military two years ago, starting civil wars and almost leading to an all-out war. Maria Jones had joined the State military a few months after a shut down on a major rebellion. Working in the Central Intelligence Office gave her access to certain files that might be used against the State. Not only that, she was on duty for at least five of the buildings that had been demolished. It made sense. Maria was the insider Apollo had; that's how he knew where to hit the military where it hurt. Al gathered a few papers, stuffed them into a folder and locked the door after him.

"Armstrong, where's Roy?" he asked his musculed friend.

"I'm not sure, why? What's the matter?"

"Then where's Lieutenat Jones?"

Armstrong thought. "Last I checked, filing reports and going over them and things like that."

Ed looked around the room almost guiltly as he dialed the telephone number to the Rockbell's. It took four rings before Winry answered.

"Hey Winry, it's Ed."

"Hi, how's it going? Are you okay? What about Al? I know you can't be calling to ask about me coming to repair your automail since you're all flesh and blood again, so what's going on?"

"Win, remember when you said that there was good news and bad news to Al's amnesia? What is it?"

Winry sighed on the other end of the phone. Ed knew she didn't want to tell him, but she had to; he'd do everything in his power to get her to tell him. "Well, Al once told me that sometimes he got memory flashes about different people. You, me, your mother, Grandma, you know, people you guys have met along the way or something." Winry took in another breath. "That's the good news: somewhere in his mind, Al remembers. So the hope of curing his amnesia is higher.

"The bad news is, Al gets alot of headaches and other different pains. He went to the doctor for it, but what the doctor didn't tell Al, is that these pains could kill him."

"How?"

"I'm not really sure, but from how I understand it, the pains put a strain on some of his major organs and that if there's enough strain then..."

"It could kill him," he finished. He was shaking. Why was he shaking?

Winry began talking again but Ed didn't hear her words. Slowly, numbly, he hung up. Many people didn't think a few weak organs was a big deal but in reality it was a very big deal.

"Riza? Hi, it's Al. Uh huh. Yeah, listen, I was wondering if Roy was there? No? Okay, if you see him, tell him to get to his office right away. Right. Bye." Of course Roy Mustang wouldn't be around right when he had put more pieces of the puzzel together on the case. He headed to Roy's office, hoping fortune would smile on him and they would meet there; he'd asked Armstrong to wait for him there.

Ed walked through the hallways alone, taking little comfort in his own thoughts and the solitariness of his surroundings. His brother's health seemed to be going downhill and it might be his fault. Great, he tries to kill his brother performing a human transmutation and now he tries to do the same thing even after performing a successful human transmutation to bring him back. How ironic was that? Ed bumped into someone who was all but running down the hall. The plates of food he actually remembered to get crashed to the ground as he caught he person. Al. He was breathing hard and it was not helping Ed's concern.

"What's wrong with you?" 'That's right dummy, make him think you don't know anything...how the hell would that help! You've gotta confront him about it sooner rather than later right?' a voice scolded inside his head. Oddly enough, Ed had this weird image of a mini him jumping around angrily inside his head. Maybe he should take Roy's advise for once and see a shrink after all...

"Have you seen Roy? I think I may have this case figured out and need to brief him about it."

"Shouldn't Armstrong be the first to know? I mean, he is heading the investigation right?"

"Yeah, but Roy's..." Al trailed off, suddenly sprinting down the hallway in the direction of the Fuhr's office.

"What? What about Roy?"

"They've got someone working here, on the inside."

One of them was a traitor? "Who?"

"Maria Jones. She could be after the Fuhr."

Ed could see the logic in that. Take down the head of any organization or something and it would fall apart quickly enough.

Al burst through Roy's office and saw Armstrong on the floor, blood pooling around his body.

**Black-Angel-001: updating frenzy! since my internet connection has been temporarily disconnected, i have the rare opportunity of typing all my chaps up and getting them ready to be posted! woohoo!**


	7. How the Hell'd We Wind Up Like This?

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: one of my reviewers was confused...about what?**

"Leiutentat Colonel!" cried Al. The man didn't respond. Alphonse couldn't tell if Armstrong was breathing or not. When he blinked again, it wasn't Alex he saw, but a completely different person. Edward, laying face up, golden eyes staring into the heavens even as the life faded from them. A hole...in his chest...he could hear himself screaming over and over again...

"Snap out of it, Al!" A sharp pain on his left cheek made the illusion disappear. Ed was in front of him, alive. No wound, nothing wrong with him. Al felt his heart punding against ribcage. "We've got to focus and think. Armstrong's shooter may still be around and we have to get him some help!"

"You hit me," stated the younger alchemist.

Edward made a low noise. "Yeah, but I'm not apologizing for it. C'mon, help me try and stop the bleeding."

Numbly, Al moved around, still in shock. Not from his friend's condition or the punch, but from his "vision". He had to keep glancing at Ed to make sure he was still there.

Armstrong had been shot near the lower chest cavity, but neither Elric knew what damage there was. Once the bleeding was in some kind of control, Al went to get some help and Armstrong was rushed to the hospital.

Ed was pacing the hallway, cursing his little heart out the entire time. It had nearly been four hours since the doctors had gotten Armstrong into surgery, and still no word. Al was sitting in one of the waiting chairs, looking, and probably feeling, guilty. Ed cursed more and louder. Nurses gave him stern glances but he ignored them.

"You know it's not your fault Al," Ed finally said.

The boy shook his head. "How can you be so sure? If I hadn't asked him to go to that office, then he might not have been shot."

"And if you had gone, you'd be in there, not him."

"Better me than him."

Something dark exploded inside of Ed, something unexplainable. Al had always wanted to help people, always wished their misfourtunes upon himself even if he had enough problems to worry about. Enough was enough. Ed had lost his brother too many times for this. And, by God, he wasn't going to let Alphonse wish death upon himself.

"Goddamn you!" Ed grabbed his brother's shirt collar and pulled him up. Al looked surprised and a little scared. Hospital staff watched them. "How can you say that? Why would you say that? If anyone's to blame, it's Mustang for not being around when we needed him! You've got no right or reason to beat yourself up over this! Just, ah, damn it!" He let go and backed off, hands clenched into shaking fists. Al couldn't exactly understand why Ed was acting like this, but he felt a sudden anger, too.

"You'd know all about self-blame, wouldn't you Ed? You felt responsible when mom died, when the transmutation failed. Did you or do you blame yourself for the way the world is too? You're behaving like a hypocryte, Edward!" All Ed could do was stare. Did Al know what he was saying? Probably not. "I know for a fact that if you were in my postition you'd feel guilty too! Maybe you are--" Al stopped and frowned, a look of pain etched across his face. His breathing came in hard, quick puffs and he had a hand to his chest. Slowly, he began to sink into a chair behind him but fell off the lip of it and landed on the floor.

"Al, what's wrong?" Ed kneeled next to his brother and looked around for a nurse or doctor. 'Great, we're in a hospital but no one's helping us! What's wrong with this picture?' he angrily thought. Al slumped over and Ed's panic grew. "Hey!" he called out to no one. "He needs help!"

Roy paced the hallway of the maternity ward impatiently. He'd been at Mae's grave, talking to his friend, when someone had come up to him telling him that his wife was in the hospital, about to have an emergency Cecerian done. He must of broken every driving law and then some just getting there. When he arrived, he'd discovered that Riza had already gone in but he had yet to find out what was going on. The bad thing was, she was five months pregnate.

"I've always been able to take a joke, but this is too much, even for You," Roy said, looking up at the ceiling.

"Who are you talking to, sir?" Roy jumped. A nurse stood behind him, frowning.

"God." At her puzzled look Roy smiled and shook his head. "Never mind. What is it?"

He glanced at the doors leading to his wife.

"Sir, a soilder was brought in for treatment a few hours ago." As she spoke, she flipped through pages on her clipboard. "A Lieutenat Colonel Alex Louis Armstrong for a gunshot wound."

Roy froze. Armstrong? Shot? The incident with Maes played over in his mind but he stubbornly pushed it aside. It wasn't going to happen again.

"When was this? What happened? Who brought him in?" Calm down, he told himself. His mind was racing.

"I'm not entirely sure of the situation, but two State Alchemists' brought him in. Ah, Majors Edward and Alphonse Elric."

"Are they still here?"

"Yessir. But one of them, Alphonse, collapsed."

Great. Not only was his wife and child in trouble, so were his men. Roy wanted to stay with Riza, make sure she was okay before he did anything else. But, she'd half kill him for that, ignoring the safety of his soilders after promising to do the opposite. He frowned but told the nurses to lead him to where they were. Before leaving, he made sure the woman at the desk understood that he wanted to know everythng that concerned Riza or else it would be her job. He wouldn't really do that of course, but fright often ensured a job was accomplished.

Armstrong had been put in recovery; his condition as of yet was unstable. Doctors ordered a round the clock observation, also putting him on various life support machines. Not even the president would be able to see him until it was okay'd by the doctors.

Alphonse was another story. It didn't take long for Roy to be ushered into a hospital room, occupied by Al, Ed, and a doctor who was checking Al's vitals. Ed's face stayed glued to his brother's, even where Roy sat next to him.

"What happened?" he asked quietly.

"We were arguing and he fell over and...what if he dies?"

"That's not going to happen Edward. What were you arguing about?"

"Self blame. Where the hell were you anyway Mustang?"

"I'll explain later. Right now, I want a full explanation from you Fullmetal, starting from what happened four years ago to right now."

Ed remained quiet for too long. "If you don't tell me I'll court marshal you for insubordination." After a few more minutes, Eward began his story.

**((A/N: this is where it gets to spoilers! skip if you don't want to be spoiled!))**

After Al had sacrificed himself to bring Ed back, Ed had done the same thing. After the transmutation, he had woken up to find himself in a house with his father in WorldWar II Muinch. There wasn't much else to say about that, he lived with his father and hid from Nazi's (Roy was confused throughout this part, but didn't say a word). Then, one day, the two were found. Apperantly, the Nazi group was nervouse because of Allie advancement. So, being accused as spies, Ed and his father were going to be shot. Because they were unable to use alchemy, they had no choice but to stand there and wait. Fortunatly, an Allie airraide occured nearby, forcing the soilders to leave. But not before a bomb hit closer than they would've prefered. Shrapnel flew in all directions, stricking father and son, and the soilders. Hoenheim was killed, as were half of the Nazi soilders. Ed figured he would have too, but when he passed out he was standing in front of the Gate. Then, he was standing on a hill in the country.

"You know the rest, but I told Winry something different. I knew she'd freak if she heard the truth," Ed finished. "As for what happened recently, Al figured that Maria Jones was working for Apollo, posing as a soilder to get the kind of information he'd need to take down the military. Al told Armstrong to go to your office, then we found him."

"I see." A long pause. "I'm sorry."

"How'd you get here so fast anyway?"

"Riza is in surgery, actually, she should be getting out soon. I don't really know what's going on."

"Then maybe I can help," a voice from the doorway said. Both the doctor and Roy went into the hallway, the doctor speaking softly. When Roy came back in, he was crying. Edward stood, now worried for his friend.

"What's wrong? Is Riza okay?"

"She's fine. Now she is. The baby was killing her."

Ed's brows knit together in confusion. "What? How? I dont' understand."

"The baby died inside of her. And, it...she...started decomposing in the womb, causing toxins to be released in Riza." Roy didn't bother with a chair, just sat down on the floor, head in his hands.

"Sir? I'm sorry to bother you President Roy, but I've got something to tell you," a soilder said. Roy stood and scrubbed his face roughly before turning, once again in his calm and cool manner, never mind that he had lost a child.

"What is it?"

"A body was found in the base, and identification has just been confirmed."

"Well, who was it?"

"Maria Jones, sir."

Ed couldn't figure it out. They all had enough problems to worry about without any more. God, hopefully something else didn't...he heard machines beeping wildly and saw doctors and nurses running. His heart sank. Things just got worse.

_Step by step, heart to heart, left right left_

_We all fall down_

_Step by step, heart to heart, left right left_

_We all fall down like toy soilders_

_Bit by bit, torn apart, we never win_

_But the battle wages on for toy soilders_

**Black-Angel-001: if you guys don't mind, go check out todengel18's story; he's new and needs some pointers from experienced authors/ess' and he's pretty good too! leave me comments, questions, flames, whatever! thankies!**


	8. Toy Soilders

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: i never had to put that many warnings on my fics until i started writing this. yet another warning: if you put on really strong glasses, squint, and read while standing on your head, you might see elricest at the end of this chapter but IT'S BROTHERLY LOVE! **

**Disclaimer: Just because I haven't put this up in a while: I DON'T OWN FMA, IT'S CHARECTERS, OR ANYTHING RELATING TO IT (er, i do own manga's one and two...those were bought damn it!)**

**Killing Me Softly**

**_((Step by step, heart to heart, left right left _**

**_We all fall down like toy soldiers _**

**_Bit by bit torn apart we never win_**

**_But the battle wages on for toy soldiers))_**

There were some things in life that you weren't supposed to do. Burying your child is one of those things. As is burying two of your soilders and friends for your stupid mistakes. Riza leaned into Roy, tears streaming down her face. She was pale and shaking. Between them, holding his mother's hand, was five and a half year old Maes Mustang. He gazed solemly at the small coffin being lowered into the ground, not fully comprehending what was happening, but knowing it made his mommy and daddy sad. He also knew that his baby sister was dead, but didn't quite understand what that meant. Edward and Alphonse stood to the right of the Mustang family, both crying. Two more funerals were to be held tomarrow, for the fallen soilders. When the deed was done, people began to leave. The parents of Elizebeth Grace Mustang stayed staring at her grave for an hour more, then left.

On the day Elizabeth was buried, it had been sunny, bright, and clear. On the day Armstrong and Maria was buried, it was cloudy, cold, and bleak. It was like God was laughing at them, mocking the crowd of silent onlookers, family and friends. The countries flag was given to the family, Roy recieving Armstrong's because his family was gone. They recieved a twenty-gun salute while a bugler played Taps. Ed flinched with each shot, not afraid of the sound itself; he wasn't sure why he was doing that to begin with but he didn't care. He remembered everything Armstrong did, and every time he pushed the burly man away. He regreted it now.

"It's been raining alot lately...I hate the rain," Roy muttered while gazing at Alex's grave.

"I know," replied Riza quietly. "What are you going to do now?"

"Find the sons of bitches and torture them as slowly as possible."

"And then?"

"I don't know."

Life definetly sucked.

Three long and agonizingly slow weeks went by. The terrorists were busy striking terror, as it were, so everyone was busy. Ed had fully inteded to tell Alphonse the truth, but after seeing the tired boy stagger in after hours of work, he had changed his mind. Roy had taken to shutting himself in his office for hours on end, allowing only a select few to enter. Lately he hadn't even been doing that. The same thing was on everyone's mind: 'It's all my fault.' Somehow, they felt as if they had failed in their duties somehow. Roy had made a habit to visit his soilders at different times of the day, just talking to them like friends when he became President. He'd stopped doing that.

**_((I'm supposed to be the soilder who never blows his composure _**

**_Even though I hold the weight of the whole world on my shoulders _**

**_I ain't never suppose to show it, my crew ain't suppose to know it _**

**_Even if it means going toe to toe with the Benzino, it don't matter I_**

**_never drag 'em in battles that I can handle less I absolutely have to _**

**_I'm suppose to set an example, I need to be the leader _**

**_My crew looks for me to guide 'em _**

**_If some shit ever just pop off I'm suppose to be beside 'em))_**

"I'm sorry Major, the President will not see anyone..." the nervouse secretary began.

"He's going to see me, whether he likes it or not! I don't care what he wants or says, I'm tired of his sulking!" Edward. Roy should've known. He continued to doodle on one of his reports, counting down from four. On cue, Ed burst in, the door slamming against the wall.

"I advice you not to harass my secratary again, Fullmetal," Roy said in monotone.

"Screw you and your advice! In case you haven't noticed, Roy, you're running the military now. You can't hide in your office everytime something goes to hell in a handbasket!" Ed stood in front of his desk.

"I'm not hiding. I'm strategizing in solitude. There's a difference." Roy's voice was still emotionless.

"You may be able to feed everyone else your bull but I don't buy it." As he was about to say more, Edward noticed out of the corner of his eye a handgun laying on a table in the corner of the room. He frowned, went over to it, and discovered that it was fully loaded.

"I know what you're thinking. Yeah, the thought has crossed my mind. It always does every time I wake up in the morning. Then, I see Riza's face, hear Mustang's laughing, listen to the problems of my friends and soilders, just go through a normal day and by the end of it, I know that I don't really want to die."

"Then why do you have it?"

Roy gave a short, humorless laugh. "Someone wants to kill me, remember?" He shook his head. "No, you don't need that reminder. But that asshole does. He's killed everyone but me." The President leaned back in his chair, rubbed his eyes. "Where are we on that case now?"

Ed sighed and sat down. "We found out that some files are missing from Maria's office. Al's got a bunch of new theory's but he can brief you on that. Anything else, we just don't know."

"I hate not knowing."

"You and everybody else."

**_((And even though the battle was won, I feel like we lost it _**

**_I spent so much energy on it, honestly I'm exhausted _**

**_I'm so caught in it I almost feel like I'm the one who caused it))_**

While Roy poured them drinks, Ed sat in thought, not listening to what the elder was saying and barely registering taking the small glass of water.

"Edward!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry, what did you say?" Ed looked up into Mustang's face.

"I asked you how Alphonse was."

Ed looked at his glass, contemplating his answer. For almost five days straight now, Al hadn't been eating or sleeping. He'd just sit there or lay there, like he did years ago, in silence. "I don't know what's wrong with him." Ed repeated the events. Roy gave him a slight smile.

"Memory laps."

"What?"

"Al's remembering the part of his life where his body was nothing more than a suite of armor. He doesn't register it, of course, but every now and then, he'll start talking about certain things that relates to his past. Don't worry, it never lasts long. But, I'll get someone to give him a sedative if it will make you feel better."

"He doesn't like those."

Roy shrugged. "Your call. Other than that, how is he?"

Ed's frown increased as he said, "I don't know. I guess he's okay."

"You guess? You've never said that when it comes to your brother," Roy sputtered, somewhat choking on his water.

"Well, he's shut me out. With things the way they are. All I can do is guess." This bothered him more than he let on. He knew Al better than he knew himself, or so he thought.

"You might want to tell him the truth soon, Fullmetal," said Roy.

"I'm waiting for all this to blow over," the younger man replied.

"Not a good idea. The way things are, one of you could end up dead before then."

More silence. Roy gazed out the window and Ed stared at the ceiling.

"I'm thinking about resigning."

Edward's attention snapped to Roy. He was still looking at the street below, completely serious. Ed's anger, which had calmed, resurfaced.

"What? Why? You worked hard for this job and gave up too much for it!"

"Exactly. I gave up too much for it. I had to play my cards right, and one of those cards was giving up some of my humanity and all of my sanity. I lost my best friend for it, and now I've lost another because of it. Yes, I'd say I gave up too much."

"Have you told Riza this?"

"Where do you think I got these bruises?"

Now that he mentioned it, Ed could see the faint outlining of bruises on Roy's face. There were probably more on his chest and arms.

"I can't blame her for wanting to beat the shit out of you," Ed told him in a low. "If you give up now, you'd be saying that Hughes' and Armstrong's life was wasted for nothing." Just as he got the words out, he felt a hard pressure on his face and his butt connected to the floor. He tasted blood on his lips and looked up at Roy. Ed shrank back, shocked and scared out of his wits. Roy looked murderous.

"Say something like that again and I'll kill you," he hissed. "Family and friends be damned."

**_((Why would I wanna destroy something I helped build _**

**_It wasn't my intentions, my intentions were good _**

**_I went through my whole career with out ever mentioning  
_****_And that's just outta respect for not running my mouth _**

**_And talking about something that I knew nothing about _**

**_I just fell back, watched and gritted my teeth while he's all over TV _**

**_Now I'm talking a man who literally saved my live, like fuck it I_**

**_understand, this is business and this shit just isn't none of my business _**

**_But still knowing this shit could pop off at any minute))_**

Ed regained his senses and stood, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He was even madder now that a blow had passed and seemed to forget that he was fooling with fire.

"You know its the truth, Mustang. If you give up, you'd be spitting in those two face's, saying 'I don't care that you died for me, it meant nothing.' " Once again, he was on the floor, his cheek swelling already. Again he stood, fueled even more now. "Go ahead and quit Mustang, let the bastard win. Hand your friends and family over to murderers."

"You don't know when to quite, do you?" Roy almost shouted. He grabbed Ed's shirt collar and almost threw him. As an afterthought, he held on, making Ed's head snap back slightly, painfully. Roy began punching. Ed took it for a while, then when an opening came, he managed to kick. Roy dropped him and they fell apart from each other. The spark glove came on and both were ready to duke it out. Havoc, Breda, and Fuery arrieved at the door and it took only a glance for them to figure it out. Havoc pushed Roy back around his desk, keeping in range of the glove. Breda and Fuery escorted Edward out and to Al.

"What the hell was all that about?" Havoc demanded. He knew he shouldn't demand answers from his superiors, but he didn't care.

"Don't worry about it," snapped the other man in aggrivation. Havoc's feelings were hurt slightly at this, but he didn't let on. After a few minutes, he left.

**_((Still have soldiers that is on the front line that's willing to die for us _**

**_As soon as we give the orders, never to extort us _**

**_Strictly to show they support us _**

**_Maybe shout 'em out in a rap or up in chorus to show we love 'em back _**

**_And to let 'em know how important is to have Runyon Avenue soldiers up in our corners _**

**_Their loyalty to us is worth more then any award is))_**

Al wasn't none too happy when he saw Ed. The blood on his face was beginning to dry and his speech sounded hilariously funny. But, the boy sighed, shook his head, and gave Ed an icepack. He didn't ask questions or scold him; for a moment, he was the Alphonse Ed remembered. When a moment of silence passed, Edward began talking.

"Are you gonna ask what happened?"

"No." Al didn't look up or pause in his work. "You picked a fight with Roy."

"I would've beat him!" Ed winced. Apparently, talking too much caused mass amounts of unwanted pain.

"You have yet to do that, Ed. Don't pick a fight you can't win."

"Words of wisdom, huh?" Ed leaned over the table to see what his brother was writing out so quickly. It couldn't be a military report, because Al always wrote carefully, with as few mistakes as possible. The pages on the table were covered with black marks. He picked one up and read the first few lines.

"_Three children and a dog playing by a river in the Spring. Two boys (brothers) and a girl. The girl had just called the older brother short_..."

Edward remembered that day. It was in the first few weeks of Spring and they'd had a picnic by the river. Before the day had been over, all three of them had fallen into the freezing water and gotten sick.

"What's all this about?" Ed indicated the mess.

"I keep getting these flashes in my head. Winry suggested to write them down."

The minature grandfather clock in the room chimed ten-thirty pm. Al sighed again and stretched, then rubbed his temples.

"Have you eaten yet, Ed?" Al glanced up at him while he shuffled papers together.

"Uh, no. Have you?"

Al smiled slightly and shook his head. "I'm not hungry. You can have my share."

"You've got to eat Al!" His tone was harsher than he intended.

"I'll be fine, don't worry."

But Ed did worry.

Hours later, Ed found Al sitting curled up on the corner of the couch, staring into space. Silently he retrieved a blanket from his bed, came up to Al, draped it over his shoulders, and pulled his brother against him after sitting down. Al began to protest, but Ed quieted him.

"Not only do you need food, but also sleep. This should help."

"Why?"

"Because we did this all the time when we were kids."

Al stiffened. "What?"

Right then, Ed knew he'd screwed up. "Uh, I mean, you know, me and my brother."

"No, you specifically said 'we'. What was your brother's name, Edward?"

"Alphonse Elric," Ed told him after a while of silence.

"That's my name." Okay, now he was confused.

"Yeah, I know."

"Why...?"

"You two are one and the same. In other words, you're my brother."

**_((But I ain't trying to have none of me people hurt or murdered _**

**_It ain't worth it, I can't think of a perfecter way to word it _**

**_Then to just say that I love y'all too much to see the verdict I_**

**_'ll walk away from it all before I'll let it go any further))_**

They would have talked more, but the building shook. As we all know, buildings do not shake on their own. Explosions sounded, screams were heard. A siren echoed. There were gunshots. Ed and Al stood quickly, Al rushing over to a drawer and pulling out a gun.

"What the hell are you doing with that?" Ed was shocked to see his brother handle it so easily.

"When they call you to a battle, they teach you to use a weapon."

"Wait, when were you in a battle?"

"Can't we discuss this later?"

At that moment, a group of three burst in the room, guns aimed at the Elrics' chest.

**_((I'm not gonna let someone else's coffin rest on my conscious))_**

**Black-Angel-001: i was writing out the funeral scenes and listening to the radio and a country song called arlington came on. as we all know, arlington is a military cemetry. i bawled you guys. oh, and if you don't want the song in there, let me know in your review or an email! i will take it out and replace the chapter if you guys want me to do that!**


	9. Don't Worry 'Bout a Thing

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: major kudos to my geomatry teacher, coach symanzchi, who made me break through my writers block! i've had writer's block since the day after i put up the last chapter and i was so frustrated i was tempted to just forget the whole thing! didn't know geomatry could be so useful! ((gives everyone who reviewed roy dolls))**

**Killing Me Softly**

Everything was still. No one moved. Ed was scared to even breath for fear that it might provoke the two rebels. He thought everyone could hear his heart pounding against his chest. Suddenly, he felt like laughing, which might have not been the best idea in the world. As many times as he faced death (even if he had died once or twice before), one would think that the idea might scare him. Now that he thought about it, it did seem kind of funny.

"Life alchemist, put your weapon on the floor and push it towards us. If you try anything, I'll kill you," the man in front of Al said calmly.

Ed didn't dare look at his brother; he might see something he didn't like. Instead, he kept his eyes glued to the face of the man in front of him. His face was expressionless, his eyes staying on Ed but occassionally glancing at his partner, more than likely to see if the other man might need help. Their captors seemed calm, ready to kill if they have to. They probably had killed before.

"I won't tell you again, Life alchemist. Put it down, push it towards me." The man cocked his gun and Ed began sending silent pleas for Al to do it.

Calmly, slowly, deliberatly, Al bent down, never taking his eyes off the man, stood and used his foot to push it over. The man picked it up, unloaded it, then threw it to another corner of the room.

"Jake, the boss said to bring everyone to the cafeteria," the one guarding Ed said.

"Yeah, I know Will. I'm kinda wishing I could pop this guy though," Jake replied.

"Sure, go ahead," Will said sarcastically, "but I ain't the one whose gonna be scraping your brains off the wall after."

Jake snorted, then told the Elrics to lay on the floor with their hands on their heads. There was only a moment's hesitation, but both did as ordered. Jake and Will then proceeded to put handcuffs on the two, forcing them up painfully and walking behind them. The cafeteria wasn't that far from their room; Roy had obviously took into consideration Ed's bottomless pit of a stomach. Roy. Where was he? Was he dead? As much as Ed pretended to hate the man, or as aggrivated as he got with him, Edward looked at Mustang as a kind of father figure.

The cafeteria was packed with captured soilders. Guards were strategically stationed: at the exits, in certain areas around the soilders, things like that. They were all causually dressed in blue jeans and t-shirts, but they all carried the same brand of gun, which would effectivly take out a small group, their combined firepower about half the group there. Al noted that some of the soilder's were a little bloody and bruised. It ticked him off, but there wasn't much he could do about that at the moment. He didn't see the president anywhere.

Will and Jake pushed them into the ranks, uncaring of them anymore. The two joined the other rebel guards. Ed and Al both assessed the situation and found it against their favor. Of course, they'd figured that much out before they even reached the swinging double doors, but had to be sure. For now, all they could do was wait and see what would happen.

The wait wasn't long. Almost thirty minutes later, Roy was shoved through the doors, followed by a beautiful young woman. She was dressed the same way as the other rebels, her short blonde hair tucked neatly behind her ears. Her eyes were an ice blue and were full of cold hatred. Ed couldn't see any weapons on her. She continued shoving Roy until he stood in the middle of the room, the tables and benches having been cleared out earlier. She regarded him for a moment, then kicked him in the back of the knees. Roy grunted and stumbled, sinking to his knees. Some of the soilders began murmmuring things amongst each other.

"Be quiet," the woman half shouted. Silence fell. "Thank you. Now, as you can see, we are in controll. We have your lives and the lives of your family and friends in our hands. If you do anything to piss me off, I'll kill you. Got it? Great, now here's the rules. You don't speak unless spoken to, and you don't move unless told. If you violate either of those two rules, you will be shot. No questions?" A cold smile crossed her lips as she spoke. When no one said anything, she opened her mouth to continue. A soilde suddenly lept to his feet and began sprinting towards one of the guards. Two shots sounded. Roy was staring open mouth and wide eyed as the soilder dropped lifelessly to the floor. Al looked from the soilder back to the woman and saw her handing a still smoking pistol to one of the men beside her. She shook her head. "That's exactly what I don't want you to do. I hate killing good soilders who follow orders. They do follow your orders, don't they Mustang?" She glanced down at him.

Roy sent a glance to Ed. "Sure they do, unless their better judgement says otherwise."

"Hm, that makes sense." She ignored the three of her men dragging the dead soilder's corpse away. "Now, down to buisness. My name is Anna. As of right now, all of Central City is under my command. Don't worry, the others will come soon enough." To Mustang she said, "I'm sure you have questions, but let's get to those later, shall we?" Roy didn't respond. Anna didn't seem to mind. "So, I hear that the Fullmetal Alchemist is back from the dead..."

"Damn straight lady!" Ed shouted as he managed to his feet. He had on his defiant look, complete with his famouse arrogant smirk. The guard before him positioned his rifle to shoot and kill. Anna stopped him.

"No, I want him alive." She studied him for a second, then called over her right hand and whisphered in his ear. After a nod of confirmation, he went over to Ed. The young man stood in an 'I don't care' positon.

"Yeah? What do you want Pops?" Without saying a word, the older man delivered an uppercut to Ed's diaphram. Ed coughed and tried to breath. Soon he fell over. Al called out to him. Anna's right hand man picked Ed up, taking him away and out of the room.

"Don't worry your pretty little head over him, he'll be fine. I just wanna have a bit of fun with him," Anna told Al, who glared at her. She just smiled and walked in front of Roy, crouching down so she would be eyelevel with him.

"Are you Apollo?" he asked in what was nothing more than a whispher.

Hm? Oh, no, I'm not. My father was." She rested an elbow on her knee and cupped her head in the palm of her hand, tilting her head slightly.

"Then why are you here? Shouldn't it be your father?"

"Myfather was completely idiotic and irrational. He did too much with too little and then didn't do what needed to be done. He's been dead for almost four weeks now."

Roy started at that. Four weeks? But that was right around the time...

"It's so easy to get into these bases. You should tighten things up."

"Did you kill Armstrong and Jones?"

"Uh, let me think on that...no, no I'm pretty sure I didn't. Fred might have, though. He's an excellent assassain. And, in case you're wondering, I'm not doing this to take control of the country or anything; that had been my father's plan."

"This may sound a little cliche, but you know I have to ask..."

Anna sighed and looked bored, her eyes trailing away from Roy to the other side of the room. "I just wanted to cause a little chaos, kill a few people, and just see how far I could go with this." She smiled again, a smile that made Al think of someone he couldn't quite place. "Looks like I've gone beyond my expectations."

"That's the only reason you did this! To have fun!" Until now, Roy had kept his cool. Her given reasons, however, were really pissing him off.

"Mmm, basically, yeah. But now that I think about it, I suppose it could be fun to have total and complete control of the military." She stood and looked down at him. "Are you willing to give up your control?"

Roy froze. That's what he had been planning on doing. Now that he was confronted with it, though, he wasn't so sure...

_"If you give up now, you'd be saying that Hughes' and Armstrong's life was wasted for nothing."_

That's what Ed had told him, that one sentance that had set him off like a bomb. Was it true? Were the deaths of his two closest friends a waste? He frowned, his head hanging. He heard the nervouse rustle of his men. Would he give it up, eternally damning everthing and everyone that he had lost?

_"Roy Mustang, if you quite now, I'll kill you and then divorce you!"_

Roy closed his eyes tightly before looking up. His eyes went over all the faces of his men, the loyal soilders whose fate he held in his hands. To refuse meant a few more would die. To agree would mean that they all could die. He saw that most of them were ready for that, if he wished for them to do so. He looked at Havoc, Fuery and Breda, paused, then gave them the arrogant look he'd had on his face most of the time in his youth. The three grinned at him. Calmly, as cool as ever, Roy looked Anna straight in the eye.

"I'd rather slide across a 50 foot razor butt naked and land in a tub of alchohol than do that," he said simply and with a straight face.

The soilders began cheering and in that moment, Roy knew that he had done the right thing.

Ed groaned, then coughed slightly. His gut was hurting but he ignored it. When his eyesight wasn't blurry anymore, he glanced at his surroundings. Roy's office, of course. Why shouldn't they send him in here? He frowned and his eyes narrowed. What was going on back in the cafateria? The president's office was too far away to hear anything, which bothered him. Ed highly doubted that Roy was doing something and feared for his friends and brother. He tried to stand up, then realized that he was cuffed to the chair. Okay, so the bad guys weren't as dumb as he had first thought. The door slammed open and shut.

"I knew Mustang was stupid, hell I knew he was crazy, but this...this goes beyond stupid and crazy." Anna. She sounded very angry. So, that meant Ed had to be careful and watch what he said...

"And I knew that you were ugly, but I didn't think that you were ugly and stupid. I mean, only stupid people would try to predict Roy Mustang," Ed said causually. 'Dummy! Idiot!' the little voice in his head scolded sharply. 'You're supposed to watch what you say, remember! Angry females and provoking tends to do bad things to one's health! Remember Winry?' Ed ignored the voice.

"Very funny Fullmetal. Anyway, I hope you didn't have anyone you liked in that room because I'm going to blow it up." Anna appeared to be in control of her emotions again.

His heart stopped for two beats, then continued on wildly. The way things had looked in there, Ed highly doubted that anyone would be able to escape.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I pulled you out from the others." She sat on the edge of the oak desk, swinging her legs slowly like a child would do. "Well, to put it simply, I want to kill you slowly and painfully."

"Why? What did I do to you?" He tested his bonds again, careful to make sure Anna didn't see.

"Not me, silly, my family. See, it just so happens, that my hometown was destroyed because you and your father were staying there for a short while."

Ed blinked. What the hell was she talking about? Then he caught the slightly heavy accent on her words.

"You two were declared spies and enimies to Hitler, so therefore you had to be erraticated. Most Germans were only happy to help, but the people of my town were more understanding. We hid the people the Nazis wanted to kill, including you two, your father beging while holding you in his arms. More than likely you wouldn't remember, since you were sick with fever. Anyway," she waved a hand to dismiss the words. "My _Onkel_, _Tante_, and their family took you in. Then the Nazis came, searched." Anna paused, her face glowing with anger and hatred. "_Teufel_ _halten_ _thema_ _immer_!" She spit on the carpet floor. Ed knew little German, but he did know that she was somehow cursing someone. "Everyone, all my friends and family, were killed because of you and your father!" She looked as if she wanted to hit him.

"It's not entirely our fault! There was no way we could have helped you or kept them away!" Ed protested, still carefully working the bonds.

"_Lugener_!" she spat. "You and your father could have stayed away completely, and nothing would have happened!"

"The Nazis would have destroyed everything anyway. They didn't care."

Anna once again paused, as if thinking. "It makes no difference now. What's done is done and I can't go back." She raised her hand and Ed saw the gun. His eyes grew wide. Oh, God, he was going to die!

"_Durfen Gott sein barmherzig auf ihr schwarz geist_." She squeezed the trigger. Ed managed to tip his chair a little, the bullet hitting him to the right of his chest, near the shoulder. He saw Anna's eyes widen as she dropped to the floor. Ed felt extreme pain, felt blood seep from the wound, saw the world go black. He felt someone undoing his bounds, looked up, and became surprised.

"Armstrong?" he whisphered before fainting.

**Translations:**

_Onkel_: **uncle**

_Tante_: **aunt**

_Teufel_ _halten thema immer_: **'Devil keep them always!'**

_Lugener_: 'Liar!' **((this is mostly used for males; females are** _'lugnerin'_

_Durfen_ _Gott sein barmherzig auf ihr schwarz geist_: **'May God be merciful upon your black soul.'**

**Black-Angel-001: CLIFFHANGER! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!**


	10. As I Went Down to the River to Pray

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001:hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe...hehe...heh...hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe...hehehehehehehehe...sugar...heh...hehe...hehehehehehehe... ((someone knocks me in the head)) RIGHT, I'M GOOD! not really! (bounces around singing she'll be comin' round the mountain))**

**Disclaimer: SO TOTALLY COMPLETELY NOT MINE!**

**Killing Me Softly**

Roy stared at the ceiling of his hospital room, lost in thought. The recent turn of events played over and over in his mind. Minutes after Anna had left, Roy had cooperated, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. When Alphonse had collapsed that opportunity had come. It had been chaotic. Many had been shot and killed, but, thankfully, a high number of men walked out of there. He sighed and rubbed his arm. There was a soft knock on the door and Riza's head poked in. She looked tired and worried, but she smiled for him. Roy loved the way she smiled.

"Hi, how are you?" she asked softly. Behind her, Maes kept his head lowered.

"I'll be much better if you come here," he told her, holding out his good arm. Riza went to him, hugged and kissed him, then sat on the bed. Maes stood still.

"What, don't want to say hi to me?" joked Roy. To his surprise, his son shook his head yes, backing away. "Why not?" Maes shrugged. Roy sighed. "Okay, then, you don't have to." Fresh emotional pain stabbed at his heart. Riza looked at him sympathetically.

After chatting a little, Riza took Maes' hand, promising Roy they'd come see him again soon, then left. He nodded to an empty room, wondering when he was going to be able to get out.

Al sat next to Edward's bed, staring at his face. For hours he thought about different things, mainly Ed's decleration. _They were brothers_. It unnerved him to believe that, but there it was. When he was ten, Winry had found him wandering around with rags on his back and no memory. At first, she had been hurt at the fact that he didn't know her and Al couldn't really figure it out. Winry had kept calling him Alphonse and the name stuck. He wanted to use her last name, so it would be like they were brother and sister, but she'd rebelled at that, saying Elric was better. That had stung slightly, but he had a name. That's all that counted.

For years he assumed his family either died or left him, uncaring of what became of him. If Ed's story was true, then it was half and half. His "father" had left, his "mother" had died, and his "brother" had also died, supposedly. Al frowned. Was any of it true? Was he really Ed's little brother? But, Ed said that he and his little brother were one year apart in age; they were about four years apart now. Ed also said he performed a human transmutation to bring Al back (from where thought? that's what he kept asking himself) and that he didn't know how the transmutation had turned out.

Maybe he was lying. Why? What did Edward Elric have to gain from coming up with a story as elaborate as the one he told? None of it made sense. Every time Al came up with a good reason not to believe or trust Ed, a thought came to him and that shot everything else down. He growled in frustration, putting his head in his hands. It all made his head spin.

"You okay?"

Al looked up quickly. Ed was looking at him through half open eyes, a little hazy from drugs, and his voice cracked. He looked as though he'd been to Hell and back.

"Hush. Worry about yourself, not me," Al told him. Ed managed a smile.

"I'm fine. I've been through worse, for sure. Besides, its just a little bullet hole..." Ed began to sit up, hissed through clenched teeth in pain, then slid back down the pillows. Al laughed at him. It wasn't funny, but he laughed anyway. Ed made a vain attempt to appear upset but he laughed a bit too.

"Want some water?" Al gestured to a pitcher and glass beside the bed. The man on the bed nodded.

After taking a long drink, Ed sighed and just layed there for a while.

"So, what happened?" He kept his eyes averted from his brother's face. He didn't want to know what the boy was thinking or feeling, and kept off the subject of their brotherhood. He could remember Al thinking he was fake, created by a boy who wanted to show off his alchemy skills. During that time, Ed had never felt more alone and scared.

Al shrugged, wondered why Ed wouldn't look at him. "Roy set almost everyone on fire, once he got to his glove. Once most of the rebels were taken out, the rest of us could beat the crap out of them." Ed nodded.

"I thought I saw Armstrong," he said suddenly. He could imagine the look on Al's face: surprised and curious about his sainity. Well, Alphonse wasn't alone in that.

"Ed, Armstrong is"

"Dead. Yeah, I know. But, for a moment I had thought...where's Anna?"

"In a guarded room. Breda isn't that good of a shot."

Ed grinned. Yeah, that sounded like Breda. He kept hearing her words, seeing her tears, feeling her pain. In a way, he felt sorry for Anna. Like so many others, she had been born and raised at the wrong time; it wasn't completely her fault. When Ed remembered his friends, any pity or sympathy he had for her was gone. As he watched his so called brother, Al couldn't help but wander what Ed was thinking.

Days later, doctors permitted Roy to get up and walk around. So what if he point blank told them that he wasn't going to use a wheelchair and so what if he told them they could shove their wheelchair up their ass and out their ears? That didn't have any part in it whatsoever...yeah, who really believes that?

The first thing he did, of course, was visit every one of his at the hospital and apologize in person. When asked why, Roy replied that since he was running the military he couldn't afford to sit around and sulk.

Not every visit went smoothly. Case and point: Jean Havoc. Although he was a good friend of Mustang, he still found time to complain about something that Roy did, even while lieing on his stomach in a hospital bed.

"Save your apologies," Havoc said louldly when Roy walked in. "I'm putting in for a transfer!"

Slightly confused and somewhat amused, Roy asked, "And why are you trying to get a transfer?"

"Because every time you get in trouble or bring it, I get shot! This time I got shot in the ass! I'm in mourning for my ass!"

Roy looked at the ceiling why rocking back and forth on his heels. "Jean," he said slowly, "You do not always get shot. Whenever you do, its by a pissed off military females because you couldn't take a hint."

"But you hired those girls. So technically, you brought trouble!" Havoc needed a cigarette, he was edgy. Damn nicotine free hospitals.

"I think you sedative," Roy told him. While Jean protested, his boss got a nurse.

The one who came in looked just a little crazy, carrying a big black bag. Jean had seen her around before and she scared him.

"Okay, so what's up?" Roy was tempted to send her away, she definetly didn't act like the other nurses.

"Uh, he needs to be knocked out."

The nurse gave a broad smile. "Alright, sure, I can help with that." As she walked towards Havoc, she rummaged through her bag. Producing two large objects, she became serious and looked Havoc directly in the eye.

"Frying pan or crowbar. Pick one."

"N-Neither," Havoc stuttered. Mustang backed out towards the door. The nurse shook her head.

"No, you gotta pick one. Frying pan or crowbar?"

"Drugs?" The nurse put the frying pan back in her bag. "What are you doing?" Jean scooted on the bed in an attempt to get away.

"That frying pan is cast iron. If I were to use that, you'd get more brain damage than you already have."

"What, and that won't!" Before he could protest more, the woman wacked him over the head with her crowbar over and over.

**Black-Angel-001: believe it or not, this chapter has a purpose: its the basis for the next ones! i got jean's line about his ass from the movie, 'the mummy returns' awesome movie guys! izzy is soooo cool! my bestest best friend is gonna be one of the people who knock other people out for surgery. she swears up and down she's gonna use a frying pan or crowbar. we have some fun with that.**


	11. Good Lord Show Me the Way

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: -crying- my baby brother is taller than me by one inch! No! -stops crying- okay, that's done. if you guys can't tell, i live off the reviews of my readers so, here's what's gonna happen. quarter exams are comin so that means i gotta stop writing for a bit to study (ack! stop writing! that's worse than being shorter than my younger borhter!) if i get nine reviews on this chapter, then i will automatically post the next one. seriously, as soon as it hits nine i will update! but, if it doesn't happen, i'm gonna die and leave you guys wondering what's gonna happen. I HAVE A WILL OF IRON! IT SHALL NOT BE BROKEN!**

**Killing Me Softly**

Ed smiled as he walked down the well worn dirt path. He carried a suitcase with him and Al walked behind him. After weeks of staying in a hospital, Roy had given a good protion of his men time off. The Elrics were taking theirs to go home and visit around. Two days of riding a train, a few hours of walking, and they were nearly there. Alphonse had built a house a few miles from an area where a house had previously burned down. It was closer to Winry's, and they would visit her later. Right now they just wanted to relax and rest.

The house was small but relatively impressive. It was of a simple, one story cottage like design, with few personal items as far as Ed could tell. The inside was just the same. The standard living room and kitchen were seperated by a small bar. There were also threed bedrooms and a small study/library. It had a nice, homey feel to it. Ed liked it.

Al gave Ed one of the extra rooms, went into his own, and fell asleep. Ed walked around, seeing how his brother had lived all this time. He saw one potted plant, a large fern, and three pictures. Al and Winry posing together, Al and friends at a party, and Al and all their military friends. Although his brother smiled for each picture, the smile always managed to not reach his eyes.

When they visited Winry, she insited that they go for a walk by the river. Neither of the boys felt like it, but agreed anyway. It actually turned out to be fun, the three laughing and fooling around as if they were kids again. Upon their arrival back to the Rockbell home, they settled back and talked, catching up. Winry beat the two in the head when she found out the reccent events, but then hugged them, thankfull that the two were still around for her to hit over the head. Al, still feeling drowzy from lack of sleep, leaned back and slept.

"Geez, how long is he going to do that for?" asked Ed.

"Oh shut up. It's not like you never did that," Winry replied playfully, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Anyway, why don't you tell me what really happened in Gremny, Germsy, or whatever the hell it's called."

"Uh...I did." Winry turned to star at him.

"You actually thought that I believed what you told me? I can tell when you're lieing Ed, and you were definetly lieing. The only reason I didn't push you about it was because of Al. So, spill it." To emphasize, she flicked him in the forehead. Ed grabbed her hand, looked at her for a second, then pulled her close to him.

"Ed...?"

"When I first got to Germany, there was a boy who lived close by. His name was Alphonse and he looked just like my little brother so I hung around him alot. He got so annoyed with me. See, he'd just lost his brother, who was also named Edward, and because I supposedly looked him, I think Alphonse kind of hated me." He pressed his face against her neck and Winry felt hot tears. "I couldn't help but feel that my worst nightmare had come true, but even when I reminded myself that this Alphonse wasn't my brother, it still hurt. I wondered if my own little brother was alive, I wondered if he did curse me, what he was doing. It was like I was being killed slowly."

Winry felt a sharp pain in her chest. Like always, Edward thought only of his brother, cried only for his brother, leaving her out in the cold. The fact that he was still holding holding her was a surprise; Ed wasn't that fond of human contact. Winry decided to do what she always did: gritt her teeth, deal with it, and do what she could to offer comfort. She wrapped her arms around her childhood friend.

"I'm sorry," he whisphered.

Winry smiled sadly. "Ed, Al forgave you a long ti"

"No, I'm telling you I'm sorry." It felt strange, she thought, to feel his hot breath against her skin. "It may not seem like it, but I do care about you Winry; that's one of the reasons why I try to keep my distant from you, physically and emotionally."

Curious, Winry asked, "Did it work?"

Ed chuckled. "Not really. It didn't help help that I saw another girl who looked like you, acted like you, and have a love of mechanics just like you."

"Let me guess, she had my name too?" He nodded.

"I've always tried to protect you, and then her, from getting hurt, but you two love sticking your noses into trouble. Then, the other Winry..." Here Ed's voice cracked and again he cried. Winry stroked his hair, rocked back and forth, did everything she knew to sooth him.

"What happened, Ed? Tell me, please."

"She died. Right in my arms. Her blood was all over me and I couldn't...I felt weak and helpless. God, I wanted to die with her."

At a pause, Winry took a deep breath. "Did you love? The other Winry?"

Ed pulled away, looked at her face, studied it. She was serious. He brushed her bangs away, smiling when they fell back into place through his fingers.

"I guess I did love her, in a way. But, for everything that she was, she wasn't the Winry I grew up with. It's just that when she died, I wondered if you had died, too."

"How did it happen?"

"She was hit by a car full of drunk soilders." Ed remembered how he almost killed those guys, his sorrow replaced by a breif rage. He continued to play with her hair.

"I was almost hit by a car. It was driven by a drunk man, as well," Winry informed him quietly. Ed's hand stopped moving. "But, someone pulled me out of the way in time," she said a little more cheerfully. What she didn't tell him was that no one had seen that person. Even Winry hadn't; she'd just felt a strong grip on her arm, and then felt herself being jerked.

"What happened to the guy?"

"He hit a brick wall." Was it her imagination, or was Ed's face getting closer? "Ed, what're you doing?"

"I've been wanting to kiss you ever since I came back. At least just once. That's all." His lips brushed hers gently, then pressed harder. Winry could have died.

Later, Ed and Winry both would admit that things got out of hand; two young people caught in the spur of the moment. At the same time, they'd laugh adn say that Al was their saving grace.

Al groaned a little, caught up completely in the terribly sad dream he was having. His mother, his poor mother, laying in front of him, dieing, and he and his brother powerless to prevent it. His mother who was the kindest person in the world, dieing because her husband had left. Winry, his best friend, crying for her now dead parents. It hurt so much to remember, to relive, that part of his life. Was that why he had forgotten? Because it was too painful to think about?

He woke with a start, feeling something warm running down his face. Tears. He was crying. He whimphered and pulled his knees up to his chest, feeling for all the world lik a lost little boy.

"Alphonse?" Al glanced up. Ed, his older brother. Winry was red in the face and buttoning her blouse. Ed was also blushing, but he didn't have his shirt on at all and his belt was undone.

"What were you two doing?" He rubbed his face.

"Um...talking?" Ed said hesitantly. Winry half choked halft laughed. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Al was so close to believing Ed's words about everything, believing everything he already knew, but had longed to forget. And yet, doubt still lingered.

"Win, how did Trisha Elric die?" Ed moved away from Al. He'd never told him the name of their mother because it was one of those things that he'd hoped Al would remember on his own.

"She had a disease for a long time, but didn't get it treated. But, some say she died of a broken heart."

"Why are you asking Al?"

"I dreamed about some things. Like, from our childhood, among other things. But, nothing dealing with after the human transmutation."

"So, do you really believe that we're brothers now?"

"No." And just like that, Ed's happy feeling disapeared in a cloud of smoke. "But, I do believe that it's even more likely now."

Even when he said those things, Al knew they weren't true. He wanted to tell Ed that yes, he now knew they were brothers, but still wanted to be sure. It would only make the pain worse if he did find out that everything was a lie.

**Black-Angel-001: NINE REVIEWS ON THIS CHAPTER OR I DIE AND LEAVE YOU HERE! actually, i think i will die for a while. -dies-**


	12. Come On Mothers Lets Go Down

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: i've decided how the end will go, but it's all up in the air for now. i can't help but think of roy and riza when i hear 'whisky girl', and duo and relena with 'how do you like me now?' (both are by toby keith) weird, isn't it? one short of the reviews i wanted, but it works anyway!**

**Killing Me Softly**

The room was dark, the delicate curtains allowing little light to enter. It didn't matter. Riza sat in the rocking chair of the baby's room, the room that was supposed to be Elizabeth's, just rocking gently and slowly back and forth, staring at the white crib. It wasn't fair, she thought for the hundreth time. Was God punishing her because she had done something wrong, or was He doing this just to spite her? It just wasn't fair.

Roy stood in the doorway, studying his wife's face for a little longer. The stress and sadness of the past few days was beginning to show. Riza seemed so broken. It hurt to see her hurt. The sad thing was, as powerful as he may be, Roy couldn't do a damn thing about it. He kneeled in front of her, like a knight in front of his precious queen.

"Maes is now officaly taking his nap," he told her, taking her hand in his. "He's still avoiding me, but not as much."

Riza smiled down at him but it was forced. "You're his hero; he thought you were invinsible or something. When he saw you in the hospital, he was rudely awakened to reality." She watched Roy massage her hand, starting at her wrist and slowly working his way to her fingers.

"Kind of like you?"

"Yeah, kind of like me."

He kissed her palm and looked up at him. "Riza, this won't change anything. No matter how long you sit here, no matter how many tears you cry, or how much you curse and pray to God, Elizabeth will still be dead."

Riza slapped his face.

"Do you think I'm stupid, Roy? Do you think I didn't know that? It's easy for you to carry on like nothing happened because your child didn't die inside of you. Can you understand that? Can you fathom how hard it is for me to walk by this room without remembering? My child died and it's all my fault!" She began to cry again.

Roy stared at her, ignoring the sting on his cheek. He was annoyed with her. It was sad that their daughter was gone, but other lives continued. The world couldn't stop spinning because of one death, no matter how much you wanted it to. With a start he realized that he had done what Riza was doing. She was hiding in the baby's room, like he had been hiding in his office.

"Strategizing in solitude my ass," he mumbled under his breath. Roy pulled Riza to the floor with him, holding her tight against him. She struggled but was too upset to put up much of a fight. Eventually, she just let him hold her, crying into his shirt. Roy didn't seem to mind. After a while, he pushed her away from him and wiped her eyes with his fingertips.

"You've got to realize a few things, Riza. First of all, stop refering to Elizabeth as your daughter. She was our daughter. Second, I can't completely understand how you feel, but I do understand. I understand that you hurt from losing a child, and that you hurt because no one seems to notice or care about the pain you feel. You've got to quite hiding out and start living. One child may be gone, but we still have the other one. It isn't fair to Maes if you do this. He still needs his mother."

"So, you want me to forget about my daughter for good? I can't do that, Roy, I won't do that!"

He shook his head. "There you go again, saying 'your' or 'my'. No, I'm not saying you should forget about our daughter, but go on living while keeping her memory."

Riza looked down. He sighed and smiled.

"Remember after Hughes died? I asked you if you were going with me to the top." She nodded. "This is going to sound incredible corny, but if it helps you, then I don't care if I have to dress up like a clown to make you understand."

Riza chuckled. It was easy to see him in white make up, a huge multi colored wig, brig red shoes, and a rubber nose. That would be a sight plenty of people would pay to see.

"I'm going with you all the way, even when we die. I'm going to go with you to either heaven or hell and God help the poor bastards who get in my way."

"You always did have a way with words," Riza told him. She was feeling better. Maybe, she didn't want her heart to heal until Roy told her it was okay? Just maybe...

"Now, lets get something to eat. I'm starving." Taking her hand, Roy helped Riza up and didn't let go. "Just promise me something, will you?"

"What?" She glanced up at hime out of the corner of her eye.

"Promise you'll stay the incredibly hot, tough, hardcore, demand authority and respect, gun toting, trigger happ, tell the truth even though it hurts,"

"Is there an end to this?" Riza laughed.

"Yeah, but now I forgot where I was and what I was going to finish it with. Look, just stay the way you were when I first met you."

"Okay, what do you want?"

"Just for you to teach Havoc some manners."

"Fine, if you promise to stay the hot headed, incruably lazy, womanizing, skirt chasing, cheating in card games, useless on rainy days man I met." The look she gave him was pure innocence.

"Sure, why n...Hey! " Riza laughed, running down the hall to the kitchen, Roy chasing after her. Things weren't perfect (if they'd ever been that) and things would never go back to the way they were before. But, right then, that was okay. Living for the moment, taking nothing for granted, but rather cherishing everything, and leaving it all to chance was how the two wanted to live right then. It was all they needed, nothing else mattered.

**Black-Angel-001: YAY TO MY REVIEWERS! here's some answers for some reviewers (and screw if it's illegal or not!):**

**_f-zelda_: thankies! i might not do another ed/winry pairing cause they're like brother and sister and it's just weird to date your brother or sister. i might, but it won't get serious or anything cause i've got plans. as for updating, i've got that all on my profile.**

**_Saun ()_: yeah, i've been meaning to put a warning on this for that for a while but it's aggrivating, especially when you think of a great summary but have to use space for that! argh!**

**_Angel-of-Music1331_: again, i might or might not do the whole ed/winry pairing. depends on how i feel...**

**Black-Angel-001: i dunno when the next chap will be up, sorry!**


	13. Gotta Fight Another Fight

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: there seems to be much controversy over the ed/winry pairing...geez, i didn't think it'd matter that much. but, anywho, as for that fact, i've decided that there WILL NOT BE A DEFINITE ED/WIN PAIRING BUT BECAUSE WINRY WON'T SHOW UP AGAIN UNTIL SOMEWHERE NEAR THE END OF THIS FIC, WE DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT! now, if you want elricest, there is no way in hell i will do that for this fic. anywho, if that has been covered, then on with the chapter!**

**Killing Me Softly**

Why would Roy call the brother's from their 'vacation' two days early? It didn't make any sense, but then again, nothing Roy ever did made sense. Many scenarios dealing with that fact ran across Ed's mind but he didn't dare pursue them or entertain them. After the 'close and personal' encounter with Winry, they (Ed and Winry) had decided to keep their distance. It was the safest course, after all, but it was hard when your hormones were going, and there was a pretty girl around, and you kept having fantasies in your head...

Ed slapped himself both mentally and physically. Al gave him a questioning look, but the elder shook it off with a stupid grin. There was no way he needed to think about such things; he was an adult after all. But that still didn't change the fact that his male brain was going on overcharge with erotic thoughts and such, and he was succombing to them somewhat. How did he get on that train of thought? He was supposed to be thinking about what was going on in Central to make the Fhurer call two of his State Alchemists in. Too bad he couldn't concentrate long enough on it...

"What do you thinks going on, Ed? Roy wouldn't summon us out there if it wasn't important," Al said, mirroring his brother's thoughts. To a degree. Ed sighed and shifted uncomftrably in his seat, thankful for the conversation.

"I don't know, maybe something came up and he needs someone to go and take care of it."

"But is he calling in everyone, or just us? If it was something minor, like a riot or something, he wouldn't need a State Alchemist, much less two, unless things got out of hand. Even then, though, it would take a lot." Al paused, thinking, while staring out the train window. Green scenery passed before them in a kind of blur. For once, this train ride didn't make Ed sleepy. "Or, maybe that woman somehow got away."

"Huh? What woman?" Al sent him a glance of annoyance.

"Anna, remember? You know, the blonde lady who wants to kill you and would take extreme pleasure in doing so?"

Ed rolled his eyes. "I can do without the sarcasim, Alphonse. Yes, I remember who Anna is...how could I forget a bitch like her? Anyway, I doubt the securtiy our dear President put on her wold allow a chance for her to escape."

"I don't know, she was able to get into the Central base, take it over, and just about kill everyone there." Damn, Ed hated it when Al proved a point. Ed kept his mouth shut and waited to get to Central.

Central was just like it had always been: a bustling city with no big cares in the world. For a moment, the Elrics expected to see a burly Alex Armstrong gretting them, saying something about techniques passed down the Armstrong line for generations. Instead, some wet-behind the ears private escorted them. It felt strange that things were the way they were. It felt even more strange when they met Roy in the field and not in his office. He was standing with his usuall subordinates, talking, and reviewing the crime scene: an overturned prisoner car. As far as they could tell, no one had been killed, but they did see traces of blood on the ground.

"Majors Edward and Alphonse Elric, sir," the private said, saluting. Roy absently returned the salute and dismissed the young man. He didn't look more than seventeen. Ed watched him walk away.

"Getting younger, aren't they?" he asked no one.

"Funny, I remember thinking the same thing when you got your liscense at twelve," replied Roy. He signed a paper. "Anyway, thanks for coming you two. I know it cuts in on your time off, and I apologize, but this is really important."

"Yeah, yeah, quite jabbering about that and tell us what the hell is going on." Al elbowed Ed in the ribs.

"Okay, here's the situation. We were moving Miss Anna to a suitble place until her trial, in this vehicle," he motioned to the overturned car, "but obviously something went wrong and she escaped."

"What?" Damn! As much as Ed hated his brother proving a point, he loathed his brother being right about that particular point.

"Don't make me repeat myself, I refuse to. But, that's the case. Plus, since she's planning to kill you eventually, I thought you might like to know."

Ed ignored that comment and proceeded to look around the immideate crime scene area, Al looking around the surrounding area and questioning individuals who just stood there watching. Although the military had already done so, the Elrics felt that they should get their information first hand. Anyone who knew them well enough also knew this and was not offended by it.

They heard shouting. Full of wonder and concern, a large group gathered around the doorway of a large brick building. It was one of the many prosperous business in the city and provided many with well-paying jobs. A soilder rushed out in a state of great agitation and fear, shouting incoheretly. Jean grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him. The soilder calmed slightly and whisphered to Jean, who went ghost white. He went over to Roy and said in a voice loud enough for all to hear,

"There's a bomb in that building."

Of course, there was an instant panic. Roy and the others tried to get everyone else quiet but had no success until Roy fired a single gunshot in the air.

"Enough! We are not going to panic and run around like crazed idiots!" The crowd sombered and looked to him for instructions, although they moved back and forth on their feet nervously. "Now then, I want two teams to remove all civillians from the immediate area and three people to seal off the area within a four mile radius." No one moved. "I meant for you to get it done now, not later," he warned.

"Sir, what about us?" Breda asked.

"You, Edward and Alphonse will be coming with me to inspect that bomb. Jean is going to stay out here and direct things, right?" The Fhuher looked at Jean who nodded. "So, lets go."

**Black-Angel-001: okay, i was watching the movie spirit: stallion of the cimmeron and i couldn't help but place some of the fma charecters with the charecters from there. ed was the horse.**


	14. Ashes, Ashes, We All Go Boom

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: yep, a bomb. no, they aren't going to blow up. why? because i'm going to save them until the very end. because i've got other things planned for them. anyone ever watch magyver? god, i LOVE that series! i watch spike tv when i can just for that show. i mean, a guy who can ((readers show up in drones and shout: GET ON WITH IT!)) my bad...**

**Killing Me Softly**

Breda cursed under his breath. He really didn't want to get a closer look at that thing, but apparently he didn't have a choice in the matter. Peachy. The Elrics and Mustang didn't seem bothered by it one bit, but he on the other hand was sweating bullets! How in the hell could State Alchemists be so calm and collected even though they could get blown TO Hell? It wasn't natural. None of it was.

Although he looked unafraid on the outside, Edward was actaully ready to bolt. He was scared shitless. Well, he'd always wanted to go out with a bang, but just not in this way. It would be his kind of luck to work with Roy on a bomb.

After reaching the site where the bomb lay in waiting, Roy leaned down to carefully inspect it. The design of it was complex, even though it looked relativly simple. If anything, it looked like a vaccum cleaner. Roy supressed a sigh. Mentally he made a note to create a bomb squad for Central. It would take almost four days for the squad in East Command Center to get there, about the same time for the West Command post, and he didn't even want to think about the time it would take for the North and South Headquaters. Stupid Bradly, moving those two too far out...

There was no point in worrying about it now. It was done and there wasn't much he could do to change it. Standing he told Breda to get in touch with East Headquarters and see if their bomb squad could haul ass over to Central. Looking relieved, Breda complied.

"I thought the poor guy was going to pass out or something," commented Ed. Roy resumed studying the bomb.

"He's a brave man, but he's scared to death of death. Frankly, I don't blame him."

"So, what are we going to do?" Al sounded nervouse. Hell, he looked nervouse.

"Wait for the bozo's in the East to get out of their chairs, wipe the dust off their uniforms, and then move about slowly," replied Roy. Because he had been stationed there, he knew how much truth there was to it. A lot. Maybe it would take more than four days for that bomb squad to get there...

"So, were you one of those 'bozo's' Mr. King Roy, sir," Ed asked, saying Roy's name and title with a hint of feigned sweetness. Mustang smiled.

"I must have been since I had you running around doing my dirty work for me."

Al stopped Ed before the older could retort. Roy sighed. There was nothing he could do with it for now. It looked like it wasn't a timed bomb, but then he didn't know much about the things.

"There's nothing we can do, let's go," he told the other two.

The three met Breda outside, Breda telling Roy that the bomb squad was currently undergoing extra training and would not be available until next week. Roy let out a long string of curses, pushed a hand through his bangs, and thought. Was there anyone in Central who knew anything about bombs? No one came to mind right off. He told Breda to put out a call for anyone who knew anything about explosives to come over right away. Happy to be further away from the bomb, Breda complied.

"What do we do now?" Jean asked after informing Mustang that the area was secure.

"Wait and twiddle our thumbs." Roy ordered that anyone who had no business there leave immediatly. Only Roy, his team, Ed and Al, and a select few remained. Two hours of waiting passed. Breda returned with an aging man in his late thirties. His face was wearing a bored expression and he stared at everything with a certain air of absetness. Needless to say, everyone was skeptical.

"Sir, this is Mr. Antonio Cage. He's a demolistionist." Clearly Breda was looking for Roy to let him go home, but Roy made no move to do so.

"Mr. Cage, how much do you know about bombs?" asked the Fhurer.

"I know they blow stuff up," replied Cage in a monotone voice. "Uh, what kind of bomb is it? Or do you know?"

"We don't know, that's why we got you," replied Furey matter-of-factly.

"Well, I'm going to go check it out. Okay?" Without waiting for a response, Antonio Cage walked straight up to the building, Jean and Furey close behind.

Ed looked at Al with a look of dispair. "We're all gonna die."

When Cage came out twenty minutes later he bore the same expression they'd seen when they first met him. He went directly to Roy and shook his head.

"It's no good. That thing responds to a change in temperature, electrical currents, and if you pull the vacum it still explodes. No real safe way to difuse it. But if you want to get rid of it I've got some nitrate and dynamite sticks back home. And glue."

"Are you saying we should blow up this bomb with another bomb?" Al stared at the man. He was either stupid or downright crazy.

"Only if you want to, I mean, the explosion would be bigger and everything, but hey, the bomb will be gone, right?"

"This is serious!" panicked Breda. "We don't have time for jokes!"

Cage stared at Breda. "Who's joking?"

"Can't we use alchemy to get rid of it?" offered Ed.

"No. Alchemy can cause a change in electrical currents," said Al logically. Trust his brother to think of that.

"Then what do we do?"

"Diffuse it," Cage said.

"How? It sounds impossible to do!"

Cage was ignoring everything around him, now. He looked like he was thinking, but they weren't sure. Ed threw his hands up in the air, either as a gesture of defeat or annoyance, and walked away, coming back a short time later. Al stood patiently next to Roy, seemingly unmoved by the time it took for Antonio to think of a way to diffuse it. Without saying a thing to anyone, Cage went back inside the building.

"Is he going to diffuse it?" muttered Furey nervously.

Roy frowned deeply, considering. "Maybe. I suggest you all leave."

Grateful, Breda all but ran from the scene. Furey followed but Havoc stayed behind. He was about to light a cigarette, but Roy stopped him. "You might be going in there, if he needs help. I don't know what he means by 'changes in temperature' but I'm not going to risk anything. Wait a while," Roy said by way of explanation.

"That's great! Can't smoke in the hospital, can't smoke outside the hospital, can't smoke at home, can't smoke at work...hell, why don't I just give it up!"

"That would be wise," commented Mustang absently.

"I didn't ask for a reply, sir."

It took hours, but eventually Antonio came out. For the first time since they'd seen and met him, he looked nervouse and had traces of sweat on his face and neck. But, he was smiling so they assumed that things had worked out okay. However, no one dared hope.

"That's that," the man told Roy. Without leave or permission, he walked away. Everone stood there blinking after him.

"He's one weird guy."

**Black-Angel-001: okay, i'm done! just because i can't think of anything else...but, i promise i'll put chapter 15 up and tell you guys how antonio defused the bomb and stuff!**


	15. The Other Side of Life

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: CAKE, BROWNIES, AND KIRARA PLUSHIES FOR EVERYONE! THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH FOR YOUR PATIENCE!**

**Killing Me Softly**

The darkness covered her like a blanket, covering her and stifling her. Anna moved quietly and as quickly as her body would allow. Without thinking about it, her body stilled and tensed at the slightest sound. Her eyes darted around in their sockets. The wind blew and she shivered. Anna paused only to catch her breath. Her family had run from the Nazi soilders for months, never staying in one place for long. Escape to Switzerland or America had been impossible; their blonde hair and blue eyes would have made the allies lable them instantly, regardless of anything else. Both sides had been sinking ships, anyway. Anna put a hand to one of her blood crusted wounds. When the car had overturned, the imbisil on her left had taken the worst of it, his body cushoning her landing. Her wounds from escaping.

She hadn't even bothered to help the others.

Anna saw the first rays of dawn. She sighed, partly in frustration and partly from exhaustion. She wasn't far enough away yet. She kept moving, determined to gain more distance before the town woke. When it became clear that she could not go on, Anna found a little place behind a building to sleep. It wasn't warm, and it was far from comftrable, but she figured she'd slept in worse places before. Anna fell asleep remembering a grimy swamp.

"Daniel, we're not 'suposed to back here," whined a tiny voice. The owner of it looked around as if she expected a creature of some sort to jump at her.

"Ah, don't be such a baby," replied Daniel. "If we don't get caught, we won't get caught." He looked over his shoulder at his compainion. "Y'know if you stay back there, the rats are gonna getcha, Laura."

With a small shreik, Laura sprinted the short distance to Daniel and gripped his arm, her braids flying wildly behind her. In his own mind, Daniel grinned a boyish grin of triumph. The two were ten, Laura only a few days younger than her best friend. The fact that they both came from large families reenforced their bond.

"What're we doin' here anyway? You said you'd tell me, but you haven't yet." Daniel rolled his eyes. She was so annoying sometimes.

"I heard Pa and Mr. Miles talkin' last night." He stopped, picked up a piece of garbage, inspected it, then dropped it to the ground. "They were saying that business wasn't that great 'cause no one was bringing their junk to 'em."

Laura nodded thoughtfully. Daniels father and Jon Miles took different thrown away (or donated) items, then built something incredible and beautiful to sell. The surprising thing was how many people actually bought their creations.

"So," Daniel continued, "I'm out here gettin' stuff for 'em." He smiled at her. "Thanks for your help, by the way."

Laura stopped suddenly, jerking her friend back. She let go of his arm, put her hands on her hips, and glared at him.

"Daniel O'Neil, you know very good 'n well that I wouldn't have come here with you if you'd told me where we were going!" She stamped her foot on the concrete for emphasis, her green eyes flashing. "And you should know what'll happen if either of our parents find out!"

Daniel knew. A spanking and probably a decree that he wouldn't get his dessert, or any treat, for a long time. Or worse, he would be banned from his pa's workshop for a while. He loved watching him work. Daniel put on a brave face.

"Yeah, well, they'll only find out if one of us rats the others out."

"They'll know just by smelling us," countered his friend.

He hadn't thought of that. What's the big deal, anyway Laura? Ain't like there's a dead body back here or something. Just a bunch of rats." He kicked the nearest pile of trash to prove his point. The thump they heard wasn't like the usual thump you hear when you kick garbage. Glancing nervously at each other, Daniel peeked over the piled up bags. His eyes widened and his mouth worked open and close. Laura couldn't find her voice to ask him what it was, so she did the same as him. Behind the rubbish of the Post Office, a pale body in torn and bloody clothing lay there. The kids couldn't tell if it was breathing or not and didn't wait around to find out.

"Laura Stephens, Daniel O'Neil, quit telling us a bunch of lies," snapped Mary Stephens.

Daniel rubbed his backside. Laura was in tears but not from her spanking. "It's true, Mama! Danny and I saw a dead person out behind the Post Office!"

When the children had raced to Laura's house, her older sister Cassidy had thought nothing of it; they were often racing each other. But a look at their ashen faces, and Laura's tears had been enough to make her think something was wrong. Laura's parents had first thought the two had been fighting, until they made sense of the babble. Laura and Daniel had gotten their much deserved spanking, but nothing further.

"Child, the day you see a dead person behind any building is they day your father and brothers set the toilet lid down," retorted Mrs. Stephens. Her husband bit his tounge to refrain from mentioning how long it took his wife and daughters to get ready to go somewhere.

"Mom, Laura is one to tell lies like that and I doubt if either of them, even Daniel, would come up with a prank this serious." Laura sent a silent thank you to her sister for the support. Mama would listen to sensible Cassidy. Mrs. Stephens thought it over. It was true enought. Of the pair, Daniel told wild and unbelievable stories while Laura tried to clean up his messes.

"Alright you two, show me this dead person of yours." Instantly Laura and Daniel scurried off with Laura's mother, father, and two oldest siblings behind them.

"Well, I never..."

"Good Lord."

"Is she dead?"

"Nah, just exhausted maybe. Looks like she hasn't eaten for a while."

They were gathered around the young woman the kids had found. From what they could see or had seen, the girl was undernourished, had lost lots of blood, and didn't look like she was getting up any time soon. Mrs. Stephens straightened and got a look of authority in her eyes.

"Well, we ain't leaving her here. Patrick, you take her back to our house. Mark, go get the doctor and take him over. Cass, you'll help me clean her up until the doctor gets there, and you two," she turned to Laura and Daniel, "are going to take a bath, change, and stay out of trouble. I'll send Amelia to let your folks know where you are Daniel."

It wasn't cold anymore, Anna realized slowly. In fact, she felt quite warm and didn't know why. She was vaugly aware of moving, hushed voices, and then something warm. No matter how much she willed her body, or how many times her mind told her body, Anna jus couldn't move. She had forgotten how much time had passed since her escape, but somewhere along the line she had stopped to put make-shift bandages on her wounds. Then she stumbled into a small town. While in the military prison she had barely slept or eaten for fear of what a soilder might do to her. That had turned out to be a mistake. So had stopping to rest. Her muscles were relaxed enough that they didn't want to operate. Anna would have panicked, if she didn't feel so sleepy.

The doctor finished wrapping bandages on the girl's woudns. Her breathing was normal, although she did have a slight fever. She was connected to an IV to give her fluids. Mrs. Stephens and Cassidy hovered nearby. For the final time, the doctor took the strange girl's pulse, then stood.

"I'm surprised she doesn't have a major infection," he commented. "In a few hours, see if you can get some broth or water into her. I'll be back tomorrow but if she wakes up before then, get me right away. Oh, and keep an eye on that fever. It could get worse."

Laura and Daniel quickly moved out of the way of the opening door. The doctor saw them as he came out and he smiled and nodded at them. When he was gone, they peeked their heads through the doorframe. With her now clean blonde hair spilled out on the pillow and the peaceful look on her face, the children thought she almost looked like an angel.

**Black-Angel-001: -fedexing packages of cake, brownies, and kirara plushies- and there we have a look at anna. great, ain't it? REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! YOU WAITED LONG ENOUGH, NOW REVIEW!**


	16. Forgive the transgressions of today

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: see, i didn't die...at least, not yet. anywho, updates!**

**Killing Me Softly**

"I'm glad you're awake."

Slowly, cautiously, Anna opened her eyes. Even with the dimly lit room, Anna's eyes hurt terribly. She bit back against the pain. The voice she heard belonged to a woman, but she didn't know where that woman was, thanks to the lack of light. Anna felt herself tense, felt her body protest, even then, but couldn't help her reaction - it was as natural to her as breathing, when dealing with an unknown situation. Somewhere near the end of the bed, Anna heard the tell-tale rustle of clothes, indicating the mystery woman had moved. Then, all noise stopped. Anna wanted to get up, turn on a brighter light and face this new possible enemy. The only problem was that her body wouldn't obey her. There was a chuckle.

"I figure you won't be able to move the way you usually do until you get out of bed and start walking; it will probably feel like learning to walk and move all over again. But, that's okay. Me and my family will help you. If you'll let us," the woman said after a slight hesitation. "Now, I'll shut up and leave you alone so you can get some more rest. Lord knows you need it."

Anna didn't really feel like it, but as she stared at the ceiling that could or couldn't have been there, she felt sleep creep up on her. Slowly, her eyes closed. She barely remembered to pray for a dreamless sleep.

Cassidy knew that her family's charge wouldn't be in the guest room they had put her in. She knew because their guest had a restless feeling, always needing to get up and do something, anything. But still, she checked the room anyway, finding it empty, as thought. Cassidy didn't panic, like most other girls in her position would. Instead, she thought it over, trying to figure out what, or more acuratly, where the girl would be.

Fact: the young woman's wounds weren't fully healed, nor was her body ready for lots of movement.

Fact: the young woman probably wouldn't have made it out of the house by herself. No one could have come to help her because no one in town knew anything about her.

Fact: the young woman was sick and in need of food. The most logical thing would be to look for her in the kitchen, assuming she found it.

Fact: Cassidy had to find the young woman before Mama and Papa woke up.

'This is all assuming she didn't fall down the stairs and break her neck,' a little voice in Cassidy's head reminded her. Cassidy allowed the reminder because it was very possible. A quick look at the bottom of the stairs told her that the guest hadn't broken her neck, but still could have fallen. She continued her search.

As expected, Cass found her in the kitchen, sitting in one of the kitchen chairs, her head in her hands. At the sound of Cassidy's footsteps, her head shot up and she barely had time to hide the wince that resulted from it. Cassidy smiled gently at her, then proceeded about the usual morning tasks she did, since she was almost always up at dawn.

"Hello, I'm Cassidy." No response. It occured to Cass that the stranger might not know their language, but continued on anyway. "I'm not really sure you should be up, but I guess a little exercise will do you good, as long as you don't over do it."

Anna stared at the female in front of her. Without a doubt, she knew that this person was not the woman who had been in her room last night. This voice was too soft and gentle; the other voice had been rough, but still retained that sense of sweetness. Of course, Anna knew what Cassidy was saying. She was just trying to figure out the situation. So, she was surprised with herself when she heard her own voice speak in Cassidy's language instead of her own native German.

"My name is Anna. Is this...your home?" The words were said haltingly.

Cass smiled and shook her head. "No, it belongs to my mother and father."

Laura and Mark, her and Cassidy's older brother, came into the kitchen, not very quietly, but not very loudly either. At first, all they could do was stare at Anna, who stared at them right back. Then Laura went into a wide field of different questions, ranging from who she was to why was she hurt behind an alley to did she have any family. Mark coughed lightly. Anna took Laura's reaction to mean that it was a warning of some kind for you. Yet, she still stared at Anna, waiting for answers.

Anna cleared her throat, answering all the questions she could without giving the fact that she was wanted by the military away. It calmed Laura down at least. When the other family members came down, it turned into confusion and chaos. Anna sat quietly back, watching the scenes unfold before her. It almost felt like...she was back in her tiny German village, before Hitler and the Nazis. She grimaced and cleared that thought promptly away. She could never have that feeling again, she reminded herself. They had taken that from her. She was silent for most of the morning and early afternoon, even when the doctor came to examine her.

Before the evening shadows fell into twilight, Anna had decided to rest here, watch how this family and town operated, then decide what to do with them next.

**Black-Angel-001: and moving on to the next chapter...**


	17. So that we may live in peace

**Killing Me Softly**

There was no trace of the woman. Roy growled out a frustrated sound and dismissed all parties in his office. Bombs were popping up all over the place, and with no apparent tie to Anna, either. The entire country was in a mess as it was without this added headache. Roy sighed before turning to look out his office window. The scene would have been pretty, except for the clouds of smoke riseing. Most of the civillians had left, taking almost everything they had with them. Military personel had sent their families to safe places too, although reports were coming in that bombings were happening all over the country.

Yep, it was a full-blown mess.

And there was nothing he could do about it.

The bomb squads were useless, and Antonio Cage couldn't be everywhere at once. Even as President, he was powerless to do anything incredibly usefull. And being usefull was one of the reasons why he had went for the job.

Meanwhile, in a scarecly populated town, the Elric brothers were facing a problem of their own that didn't include bombs. The town had held a few rebels, spurred on by Anna and her crew, and were fiercly upset that her group was dissolved and she was MIA. So, naturally, they took their problems out physically. Sort of.

Ed ducked behind the barrel once again as more shots were rained at them. Two hours ago, he had requested backup. He and Al were wounded, along with many other members of their group, though not seriously, and the calvary still hadn't shown up. Ed was pissed.

"Damn HQ for sending us out here without a better equipted team, damn them for practically ignoring us, and damn ourselves for being in this situation!" he practically shouted.

Al was only a few feet away, looking around for a way to get the situation under control. When he saw a large wooden horse near him, used for proclaiming the building a bar, he got an idea. Quickly, he clapped his hands and placed them on the horse. Bright lights shot around, then faded into nothing. Al removed his hands, then waited for almost a full heartbeat. As expected, the wooden horse reared, front legs kicking the air, before charging at the rebels. Needless to say, the enemy was stunned long enough for Ed and Al and anyone else able to move to grab them before they regained what little sense they had left.

"How'd you do that, Al?"

Al glanced at Edward. "I merely put a little of my soul into the horse so it could move. My will is, technically, my soul as well so it knew to go after the bad guys." Al shrugged. "That was pretty basic, though."

"Wait a minute. You put some of your soul into an innanimate object!" The fact that his little brother wasn't worried about that worried Ed. What if Al put too much soul in, meaning all of it, and wasn't able to get it back? For that matter, COULD Al get those bits of soul back?

"I know what you're thinking, Ed, and I'm going to tell you something that you'll probably ignore. Don't worry about it. I know what I'm doing, and I know I'll get that small bit of my soul back."

**Black-Angel-001: okay, ending there because i can't think anymore on this. i know it's a lot to ask, especially after so long, but will you guys who still look out for this review, please? pretty pretty please?**


	18. Life Goes On

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: okay, i've had to re write this chapter a couple hundred times, so enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own nuthin' but anna and even then I don't really own her.**

**Killing Me Softly**

Her time with the Stephens in the small town was drawing to a close and Anna knew it. Very soon, she would have to leave or else the military would be able to track her more easily. The only question was when and how. In the dead of night was very bad form, and she didn't want to blow up the place because it reminded her of her home. That was just another reason for her to leave. Anna contemplated for days as she did her chores what she could do. Finally, after a week of debate, she decided that she would just leave. Maybe during the day, maybe at night, but she didn't need to do anything spectacular or amazing or anything else to do it.

What few belongings she had were put in her backpack: a few clothes, some papers, and one picture. It was the only picture she had of her family, the only one she had kept. The edges were burned, torn, and worn, but she didn't mind. It helped reminded her of what she had to do. Anna surveyed the room one last time before walking out and closing the door firmly behind her. Now, she only needed to walk out without looking back. She made it halfway down the stairs before a little voice called to her from the top.

"Are you leaving us?"

Anna didn't turn around. "Yes, my little _blume_, I'm leaving."

"Why?"

"Because it's dangerous for me to stay."

There were tears in Laura's voice as she asked, "Don't you like us anymore? Did I do something wrong? If I did, I'll make up for it, and I'm sorry!"

Anna dropped her bag and went back up the stairs in a rush, nearly tripping in her haste to get to the child. She grabbed Laura's shoulders and shook her gently. "You haven't done anything, do you hear me? Nothing!" The little girl cried harder. Anna sighed and pulled the small body against her own, stroked her hair softly. "I like you all just fine, it's just that I can't stay any longer. I've stayed too long as it is." She drew back to look at Laura. "Now, dry your eyes, okay?" With that Anna kissed her forehead, then went back downstairs, pausing only to grab her pack. She tried to ignore the sobbing from the top of the stairs.

"_Auf Wiedersehen, klein blume_." As she stepped through the door, Anna thought about how beautiful the day was.

It was raining cats and dogs in Central. Havoc puffed on his cigarette as he stared out the window at the dreary weather. At least the rain helped to put out all the fires. Gradually the conversation between his boss and comrades dwindled to silence. Fuery cleared his throat.

"Sir, what will happen if we don't find Anna?" he asked in a somewhat timid voice.

Roy considered his answer. Fuery was a bit of an innocent in many aspects of life but understood the way of the world. Better phrase it gently...

"The sky will turn blood red, little birds will cry out in agony, and all our hopes will be sucked down a dark vortex."

As the others comforted and assured Furey, a soilder burst into the room. "Sir! We've found Anna!"

In an instant Roy was on his feet, his chair knocked over. "What? Do you have her in custody? Where is she?"

The private was taken back. "Well, we don't have her in custody as of yet. Er, that is, what I mean to say is that we have a general location, sir, " the young man stammered.

With a wide sweep of his arm Roy pushed the papers on his desk to the floor. At the same time, he pulled a map out of his desk and spread it out. Everyone gathered around excitedly. "Show me," he ordered.

Alphonse walked slowly down the rows of folders and books, scanning the spines quickly. He sent a silent prayer of thanks to Bradly for being at least smart enough to make files for all military personnel and their close relations. It had taken a long while, a couple of years, but every new military member had a personal file for referencing. Or so Bradly had said at the time. Popular belief was that he wanted to make sure no one was going to overthrow him, and to keep that from happening he tried to know everything about everyone in his military. But with so many enlisted and officers all over the country, it had been difficult to gather sufficent data on them and their families, so the information was used for general and medical purposes. By Al's reasoning, if there was already a file on Edward's brother, and if he really was that brother, then there should really only be one folder. If there was a second one under the same name then it was only because there was new information that hadn't been added to the other.

When Al found the files, his heart skipped a beat. He pulled the folders down, took a deep shuddering breath, then began to read.

He was a pretty easy guy to please, Ed thought to himself. If the people he loved were happy and safe, then he was happy and at ease. If there wasn't some lunatic running around killing the people he loved he was able to sleep peacefully at night. If his brother knew about his past and actually acknowledged their realtion, he wouldn't feel like the world was caving in around him. Ed sighed and rolled over on his side. He pillowed his head on an arm and let the other lay there on the bed. His hand clenched into a fist. If his brother would stop looking at him as if he were a raving lunatic he wouldn't feel the need to punch someone, namely himself.

He had been sure that Al knew more than he let on, but now he wasn't so sure. Maybe Al only knew parts that didn't involve him. That was irony. First the fiasco with Al becoming the thing that they had searched for in earnest, then Al sacrificing himself to restore his older brother back to life, and finally said older brother sacrifices his newly returned life to bring back his little brother, only his little brother has no idea that any of that happened. Edward flipped over to lay on his stomach and buried his face in his pillow.

Life definetly sucked.

"Come on, Fullmetal, no time to mope."

Ed's groan and words were muffled by the pillow. "Go away, Mustang. I'm not in the mood to deal wit-"

"We've got Anna."

Dead silence. Edward bounded up and stared at Roy, his golden eyes wide. Then he frowned. "What do you mean? As in, you've got her in custody, or you've got her location and have her surrounded?"

"Perceptive little bastard," Roy muttered. Louder, he said, "We've got her location, but other than that everything else is in the air." With that, Mustang turned and walked out, knowing without turning around Ed would follow him. Thesound of footsteps behind him proved him right.

"I assume you already sent a team out to get her," came the curt question.

"You assume correctly," came the equally curt reply.

"And you aren't out there?"

"No, I want to be here when she arrives."

"Careful, Mustang."

"I don't need you to tell me that."

A haggard looking officer ran into them, literally, rendered a hasty salute, then turned to Edward, stammering and stuttering.

"Wait, wait, wait," urged Roy. "Calm down. Take a few deep breaths." The captain obliged. "Now tell us."

"It's Major Alphonse Elric, sir, he's collapsed."

**Black-Angel-001: dun dun dunnnnnn!!**

**GERMAN TRANSLATIONS:**

**blume: flower **

**Auf Wiedersehen, klein blume: Goodbye, little flower**


	19. Deep Is My Greif

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: what happened to al? will the military capture anna? survey says...**

**Killing Me Softly**

The beep of machines, the hiss of the respirator, the still figure on the bed. It was all imprinted in his memory, and Ed knew he'd never forget it for the rest of his life. When he'd arrived at the hospital, Alhponse was already stable and in intensive care. According to the doctor, Al's body was crashing and crashing hard. At the moment, he was in a coma and in desperate need of new organs if he was to survive. Ed put his head in his hands, clenched his eyes together.

"Edward?"

Ed jumped at the soft voice and turned swiftly in his chair to the doorway. The light from the hallway outlined Winry's body and the light from the room illuminated her soft features. Tears were streaming down her face, her hands clutched together in front of her.

"Hey, Win," Ed said, hoping to sound cheery. He failed miserably.

"Are you okay," she asked as she pulled a chair up next to his. Ed shrugged. "How about Al?"

"Just peachy," he snapped. Winry flinched. Ed sighed softly, reaching over and taking her hand in his and squeezing it gently. "Sorry."

Winry smiled sadly. "S'okay. I know you're going through a bad time now."

The hissing and beeping filled the silence.

"He'll pull through this Ed. He's tough, just like you."

"Somehow, I don't see that happening." His voice was dead and flat.

"There's always a medical break through happening. They'll find a way to do it, and then Al-"

"No!" Ed surged to his feet, his chair tipping over dangerously before setting. "Winry, everything's shutting down. When they found him, he wasn't breathing and he didn't have a pulse. Who knows how long he had been like that. See those machines hooked up to him? They aren't part of the decor. They're keeping him here. In less that twenty four hours, he's going to die!" Ed's face turned pasty white and he stumbled back into his chair. "Oh, God. Oh, God, Winry, I-I-I said that... Oh, God, no!" He pressed his fists into his forehead and his shoulders shook.

Winry kneeled in front of him, then pulled him to her. She held him to her breast and stroked his hair, saying nothing. Finally, his heavy sobs turned into shuddering breaths. winry softly kissed his head a few times. Ed pulled away and scrubbed at his face. Neither of them said anything for a bit.

"Do you feel any better?" asked Winry quietly.

Ed looked at her for a moment, then watched his brother's still face. "I still feel helpless, I feel like comitting murder, and," he sighed, "I'm trying to figure out if another attempt at human transmutation is worth it." His voice trailed off.

"You can't!" The shocked words were uttered on a gasp.

"I could, but if I did, what would happen? The same as the first time? The second time? Worse? I don't know anymore." Ed leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes. "I can't take much more of this." With those muttered words, Edward fell asleep.

When Ed woke, it was dark and he was alone, so to speak. Moonlight filtered through the window which gave off some soft light. He yawned and stretched, popping the bones in his neck and shoulders. He leaned over the bed. Al was still the same. Ed fell back against the chair, his chin in his hand. What the hell was he going to do?

"You're missing him already and he isn't even dead yet," a quiet voice said.

Ed froze. He didn't take his eys off Alphonse. "How the hell did you get here?"

Anna chuckled. "Easily, once I knew his room number and had studied the blueprints.Slipping past any guards was also easy." Ed heard Anna get up and move toward him if the sound of her footsteps was any indication. He shivered when the feel of cold steel pressed against the base of his neck, when Anna's breath brushed over him. "I could kill you, then your brother right now because I am in control at the moment and have that ability. I believe it is called, statas quo," she whisphered in his ear.

"Then why don't you?" he asked, his own voice a whispher.

Anna's voice dropped an octave. "Because that would be too easy."

The barrel of the gun left him and he heard her walk around the bed to the other side. Now he looked at her. The handgun was trained on him, her hand and arm steady, her blue eyes surprisingly warm. Not by much, but that warmth was there.

"You've changed a little. You're not as blood thirsty anymore," stated Edward in surprise.

Anna leaned against the wall, tilting her head to the right. She regarded him, then shook her head. "You are hopless," she sighed, "but right, to an extent." The gun lowered a fraction. "After much thinking, I've decided that because this is a personal matter between us two, I will keep it that way. To a degree. I am not above using your brother or friends to persuade you."

"So you're gonna keep everyone else out of this?"

"Like I said, if a friend of yours must die to get your attention, then so be it."

"Goddamn it!" In a surge of anger, Ed stood, his hand sending his chair to the floor. "I've already lost a friend! That got my attention pretty quick, and the focus just went to you a little more with each bomb that went off. Now, it's dead center!"

"I find that hard to believe, Edward. If you were completely focused on me, you wouldn't be here now. You'd be out trying to find me."

Edward felt his expression harden into a glare.

"Anyway, I am here to discuss business with you." Anna waved her free hand in dismissal as she spoke. "This must end and soon."

"Finally, something we do agree on," snarled Ed.

But Anna wasn't paying attention to him. She was staring at Al. With an almost tender expression she reached out to touch his pale face. Lightning quick, Edwar slapped her hand away.

"Touch him and it'll end sooner than you think."

She kept starring at Al. "Did he ever believe you?" Ed frowned.

"How did you...?"

"What's left of my men informed me what's going on. Mr. Cage is a very intelligent man, isn't he? It's rare for a person to be able to diffuse bombs so efficently."

"He wouldn't have to if you hadn't set them in the first place!"

"I never authorized the setting or placement of those bombs. I consider myself a fair person. I will issue orders that all bombs or explosive devices are to be dismantled."

Ed snorted. "And pigs will fly, cows will jump over the moon-"

"And the dish will run away with the spoon," finished Anna. She shrugged. "Whether or not you believe me is a moot point because I don't care, Elric." Her voice hardened. "You will either face me tomorrow night or watch everyone you love die."

"A fight to the death I suppose."

"Cliche, I admit, but it's the only way to end this once and for all. In any case, you must give me an answer before seven pm tomorrow."

"What's stopping me from stopping you right now? Just out of curiosity, you understand."

"The possibility of a bullet going through one of these machines. Just out of necessity, you understand."

"Perfectly."

Anna bowed her head to him, a slight smile playing on her lips. "Farewell for now, Elric." With full confidence she walked around the bed and to the door. She paused and turned, her hand on the doorknob as if to say something, but instead she shook her head, almost sadly, and walked out, quietly closing the door behind her.

Edward sighed. "Al, I could really use your advise, more than ever. What do I do now?"

Ed was so focused on the scene outside the window he didn't see Alphonse's hand clench weakly before going limp again.

**Black-Angel-001: half of my graduation present to you readers. the rest is the last chapter of this fic which will hopefully be up before may 23. if not, then some time after, but no more than a week.**


	20. Ballad of Fallen Angels

**Killing Me Softly**

**Black-Angel-001: last chapter! no joke! no lie!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Anna.**

**Killing Me Softly**

"Are you alright Ed? You're kinda quiet."

Snapped out of his rather depressing thoughts, Ed flashed a lopsided grin at Winry and waved his hand. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."

Winry frowned but said nothing. Slowly his grin faded and he stared at the wall again. For the first time in hours, he wasn't at the hospital keeping a vigilant bedside guard over his brother. Ever since his conversation with Anna the night before, Ed had contemplated telling someone, anyone. But he knew that she would find out somehow, then do something to punish him, like killing Winry or setting off another bomb in the city. So he couldn't take that chance. That meant he had no choice but to accept her challenge and face her, without the knowledge or support of his friends.

So, at seven o'clock that night, he met Anna at the front of the hospital.

"I'm actually a little surprised," Anna said softly from the shadows as she stepped out. "I couldn't really be sure you would show up, even with all of my threats."

"And is that all they were, threats?" Ed asked, his voice low.

"Not exactly, more like threats that are promises." A pause. "I assume you are willing to do this?"

"What choice do I have?"

"None."

"Exactly."

Anna began moving, motioning for him to follow, which he did. He had no idea where she was leading him, but he knew it was far from the general population, which he could agree to. The evening was falling quickly, the stars coming out, and the wind picking up. The air was crisp and cool and didn't help to sooth his jumpy nerves. All he could think about was how Al was. Was he doing any better? Was he passing peacefully? Edward didn't even want to think about that. The night wore on and Anna was still leading him to some unknown destination. Finally, she stopped. Ed took a good look around him and nodded, satisfied. They were out in the middle of nowhere, far from any people.

"When I said that it was now just between us, I meant it," Anna commented.

"Fine. So, how does this start?"

"Well, I left a note at Central Headquaers about this, but they won't find it until later. It will tell them where to find us, and there is some money in the envelope to pay for a few things. As for starting, well, however you want."

Ed considered. "How about go a few paces away from each other, then charging head first? Or if you know martial arts we could start like that."

Suddenly, Anna started laughing. She doubled up as her laughter shook her body. Ed frowned. "Are you laughing at my idea?"

"No, but do you realise how absurd this is? We're supposed to be mortal enemies but we are deciding how to start our final battle like it was a business deal!"

Edward's eyes grew wide, his mouth hung open a little. Then, he started laughing too. She was right, it did seem absurd. Once they had control of their laughter, Anna asked what they were going to do, seriously.

"Can't we just go our seperate ways and live our lives?"

Anna's smile disappared in an instant. "No. You could, maybe, but I cannot. The path that I have been on can't be changed and I'm sure that even if I repented completely, which I can't do, I would be put to death by your government." She shook her head. "No, for me there is no hope."

"But-"

"Enough!" Ed jumped a little. She had changed so totally, so completely, that he couldn't be sure she hand't been acting up until that moment. Anna pulled out a knife. "Edward Elric, this battle must be fought and only one of us may walk away."

Ed grimaced, clapped his hands, then slammed them into the ground. As he pulled his hand up a spear followed, brght blue lights sparking and dust swirling around him. He grabbed it with both hands at the same time Anna charged and lunged for his neck. He blocked her effort and slashed at her, tearing her shirt. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she regained her footing and balanced on the balls of her feet. They circled each other, keeping track of the other's movements to judge where they were going next. Edward jumped to the right and feigned an attack to the left. Anna responded with a low leg sweep. Ed hand vaulted into a crouching position, spear at the ready. They stared at each other for seconds, then charged at the same time. Anna swept the knife at his middle and Edward heard fabric rip. He grimaced. She was faster than he had expected. Using the pole he hit the weapon from her hand. When he used the end of the spear to jab at her, she jumped back but not before taking a hit in the gut. She grunted and stumbled back, reaching behind her back for something. When she regained her balance, she pulled out a gun. Ed took a chance.

Where was he? Winry stared out the hospital window worridly. Al didn't have much longer and Ed wasn't there. She brushed the tears from her cheeks. Around the bed was the Mustang family, Sheska, Roy's subordinates and Al's friends. Everyone was crying openly and unashamedly, just as they were remembering all of the ways Alphonse had touched their lives. Winry took his still and cold hand in hers and waited.

It was like a firecracker going off. First came the noise, then the pain. Edward blinked, stared at Anna. Her eyes were wide and blood bubbled from her lips. She smiled.

"I-I guess that neither of us are going to wa-walk away." She coughed. More blood. Ed looked down. His spear had gone through her chest, so she had no chance. But she had shot him in the chest, too. He wasn't sure if he was going to make it either. He smiled back at her.

"Guess not." She opened her mouth to say something, but instead her eyes dulled and she fell forward. Ed didnt' let go of the spear shaft so she fell on top of him. Her momentum knocked him down but aside from the sharp pain in his chest, he didn't register pain. The stars glittered brightly against the black sky. Suddenly, he remembered so many nights when he, Al, and Winry had lain together and just watched the sky at night. Al...Tears fell down his face. By now, Al was gone. Again. He felt himself slip into darkness.

The machines beep slowed. Winry gripped his hand tighter. The nurses had already taken the tubes out of him, at Ed's written request.

"My God," breathed Breda.

"What?" Roy frowned. Breda pointed at Al.

"His eyes, they're open."

Indeed they were open, but not completely. Alphonse's gray eyes grew darker and darker as he gazed at all the people who loved him, had cared about him and his brother. His lips formed into a small smile as his breath escaped in a sigh and his eyelids fluttered down.

Ed's breath came in gasps, his pulse erratic. Finally, there was just cold. The air in his lungs rushed out all at once and his heart stopped. In the cold silence, Edward died alone.

A nurse started shutting off machines. The figures huddled together in the small room began to comfort each other over the loss of their very good friend.

_To Roy Mustang:_

_I don't expect that you would understand. I don't even expect you to try to, either. But, to the point. At the outskirts of Central City, due west of the Cathaderal tower. There, you will find either the body of myself or of Edward Elric. The one who survived will have done what is best for them; in my case, I will disappear and never bother you again. Along with this note, you will find a bit over two thousand dollars. I would apologize but it wouldn't matter. I feel that I have nothing to apologize for and if I did it would not change anything._

_My best regards,  
Anna Ropke_

_Dear Edward,_

_The whole reason I'm writing this is because I can't tell you myself for some reason or another. One might be because I'm already dead. I always knew somewhere in the back of my mind that I wouldn't live to grow old, but that's okay. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I really do believe that you're my brother. I may have doubted it at first, but ater that visit with Winry in Resembole a couple of months ago, I believed what you were saying. I at least knew you well enough that you wouldn't lie about stuff like that. But, that's what I wanted to tell you. That, pluse I never blamed you for anything, past or present. Anything that happened we got into together, so we suffered together, as we should have. In spite of all the pain, the years we traveled were some of the best we had. I'm glad I was able to find you again. It makes everything else more bearable._

_Your Forever Loving Brother,  
Alphonse_


End file.
